Holding On
by Shandrial
Summary: As the Konoha shinobi race to save their future Hokage, Sakura is forced to confront her growing feelings for Naruto. When the Leaf clashes with the Sound, it's a battle for Naruto's survival. Set 2 years after the war with Madara. NaruSaku.
1. Descent

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or it's characters. It is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Weekly Shōnen Jump. No money is being made off this piece. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

**Title:** Holding On

**Author:** Shanny

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** Bad language, violence, blood, adult situations, angst, and character death.

**Summary:** As the Konoha shinobi race to save their future Hokage, Sakura is forced to confront her growing feelings for Naruto. When the Leaf clashes with the Sound, it's a battle for Naruto's survival.

Set 2 years after the war with Madara. Eventual NaruSaku.

**Author's note:** _I should be working on my A-Team story, I know, but this begged to be typed up first! What can you do when the muse hits?_

_This is my first Naruto story, so be gentle! Suggestions or comments for improvement in the fandom or writing in general are always welcome. This will probably be a shorter story, well short for me anyway as most of my stories are very long. This story takes place after a 2 year time skip from the current manga. So spoilers from the manga up to chapter 541 may be possible, though I think you could probably read it if you aren't caught up anyway, nothing major. The war with Madara is over and I've taken creative liberty here for story purposes for how things have turned out afterward._

_Oh yeah, I chose to keep some things like, honorifics, jutsu names, and such in Japanese because I think they translate poorly to English or in the case of terms like chakra, we're probably all more familiar with those names anyway. You'll probably also notice the change in thinking of Kakashi as 'senpai' instead of 'sensei.' This is because of the change in their relationship that we'll get to later.  
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><p><strong>Part 1: Descent<strong>

_The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.__  
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- William James

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><p>Night had just fallen on the Land of Fire and as the moon had yet to rise, that left the forest floor covered in darkness. The chill of the early spring air was crisp, moist, and cold with the setting of the sun. The black clad figure didn't have the time to worry about any of that though as he jumped from tree to tree. His yellow, horizontally slit eyes pierced the gloom well enough, and even the darkest of nights would do nothing to block out the feeling of the many, many chakra signatures he felt behind him and desperately trying to close in on him from the sides.<p>

"Damn Sound-nin never get a clue," the lone shinobi mumbled.

_Keep going, just keep going_, he thought to himself. He was already within the Land of Fire's border and just passed the Valley of the End. He wasn't even going to think about those memories right now. Not that he expected the shinobi frantically trying to pin him in would stop when they reached the border, but it was a relief to still be _home_. They were making a last frantic move to try to cut him off before he could get too close to Konoha.

The shinobi winced as he landed particularly hard on a tree branch and stopped a moment to catch his breath. He felt like ripping the mask off to get fresh air at the moment, but knew that wasn't allowed in the middle of a mission like this. The black bandana he used to completely cover his too bright and recognizable blonde hair was drenched in sweat. The ANBU armor dug relentlessly into his side where a lucky bastard had gotten close enough to get a good strike in with a kunai. He'd been lucky enough to be in Sage mode at the time so the kunai itself did little damage, but it dented and tore the armor, which mercilessly dug into him in return. The Sound-nin would never have gotten that close normally, but overwhelming numbers could do that. He was covered in slashes, scrapes, and bruises as it was and this frantic race through the trees wasn't helping for the pain, or blood loss, for that matter. There wasn't much else to do about it though, but grit his teeth and bear it. There wasn't enough _time_ to treat any wounds right now and besides, the Kyuubi and the increased healing rate of the Sage mode were already working on his wounds anyway.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto clutched the katana in his right hand tighter and unconsciously felt the strap holding the scroll case on his back, with his left. The blade was made from a special metal so that it could be infused with his wind chakra. While blades made to infuse with chakra weren't that rare, this one in particular had to be made more durable than most to withstand use during Sage enhanced strength. The Kanji for _Hi no Ishi_, the Will of Fire, was inscribed onto the blade. To him it stood for everything he was. A protector of the village and an inheritor of the dream of peace passed down from previous generations, most especially his late Master and father, and everything he'd inherited from them. Mainly, his name and the guts to never give up and after his fight with Nagato, _pain_.

_It really is a beautiful sword_, he thought with a sentimental glance at the blade. A gift to the _Hero of Konoha_, as people started calling him two years ago after Pain's attack on the village. He'd earned quite a few titles since then, good and bad, but that was always his favorite. It was the first time the village as a whole looked at him with respect and that feeling could never be replaced.

Had it really been two years ago? After the war with Madara and Sasuke and the struggle for all the shinobi nations to rebuild themselves after that devastation, it seemed like yesterday. Now, when he wasn't hidden in an ANBU uniform like this, shinobi from nations not aligned with Konoha had standing orders to flee at the sight of him on the battlefield. _Like father, like son_, he thought with some cynicism. Hell, two years ago he probably would have been happy and excited to think of himself in ANBU, especially with the rest of Team Kakashi beside him, but now… well now it wasn't so exhilarating anymore, even with the others by his side a lot of the time.

With a small grunt Naruto took to the trees again. The Sound-nin from the west were getting very close. Even with his speed he was going to have to engage them. Naruto knew he was slowing down. His immense stamina was waning. He had over used his Sage mode and Nine-tails shroud big time to get to Otogakure, fight his way out of that base, and get this far towards Konoha. The jinchūriki had paused a few moments ago to re-enter Sage mode for the burst of speed and far-reaching sensor perception, but he was barely holding onto the natural energy now. It was fading, and he knew it.

_Get there and back with the scroll in three days and prevent a war_.

Yeah sure, no problem. Sounds simple. Riiiiight.

Except that it took more than three days for most shinobi to even get there and back. Then there was the fact that the Sound-nin _knew_ someone was going to come to reclaim the damn thing they stole. It was an obvious ploy of Kabuto's to shake up the fragile alliance Konoha shared with Amegakure and start the two countries fighting again. He had to believe no one could get to Oto and back again in that amount of time, and if they did, well the Sound-nin would get to kill some Leaf-nin walking right into an obvious ambush. It was a suicide mission and a win-win situation either way for the bastard.

So for the sake of the village and the fragile peace they lived in, Naruto had given his word, _his word_; to Tsunade he would have that scroll back to her before the emissary from Amegakure arrived in Konoha… in three days. 'Cause well, he _wasn't_ most shinobi was he? And he was pretty sure he could make the trip there and back in time and lets face it, it took someone of Kage level to enter an enemy base loaded with shinobi on high alert, _take_ what he wanted, and forcibly leave.

He'd done just that too.

Too bad for them it was Konoha's jinchūriki that came knocking on their door. _The Demon of Konoha_, some of the smaller countries called him, a name he wasn't so fond of. He'd made it there in a day and a half, kicked the crap out of a lot of Sound-nin, gotten what he wanted, injuries aside, and was now on his way back to Konoha. The act of using that much power to simply overpower anyone, enemy or not, and take what he wanted wasn't exactly an act that he was proud of, or something he wanted be remembered for, but it was literally push comes to shove here. And since it was Konoha's fuck-up, they _needed_ that sacred scroll back or a lot of Konoha and Ame-nin could die.

Naruto had a feeling he now knew what Itachi had felt like somewhat. He just did something he was against, with every fiber of his being, to keep the peace and his precious people safe. _When did I become that type of weapon?_ He had to wonder.

Now he just had to make it back before the morning with a crap load of hostile shinobi on his tail. Well really, he just had to make it close enough to Konoha and the pursuers would retreat rather venture too close to a large enemy village on high alert, waiting for its jinchūriki to return, expecting he might be being chased.

Which was Naruto's current problem. His body was exhausted from overuse of Sage mode the last two and a half days and using the Nine-tails chakra back at the base, he was suffering from blood loss and chakra exhaustion, even after downing two of Sakura's nasty tasting chakra pills along the way, and there _just_ _wasn't enough time_ to stop.

_Gods I'm so tired_, the jinchūriki thought with a sigh as he pushed off a tree.

Images of ramen, a nice shower, and curling up in bed invaded his thoughts. Or better yet a waiting Sakura _with_ ramen in bed. _Now we're talking_! Okay, maybe being the student of the two biggest pervs to _ever_ become shinobi had rubbed off on him. Like she'd ever go for that anyway. They were just teammates.

_Focus! Get there first!_

The Sound-nin were almost to him now and they definitely had some hostile intentions going on there. _Could be something to do with destroying their hideout_, he guessed. Naruto thought through his options, he could fight through them like he had been doing, but if his fading Sage mode wore off in the middle of the fight, his exhausted body might just collapse on him. He could try to out run them, but he again ran into the same problem. He could always draw up the Kyuubi's chakra, but the price the fox demanded, even after these last years and the fact that they were on somewhat speaking terms now, was still too high and he was quickly running out of chakra to begin with. It just might kill him this time. _One of these days, I'm really going to have to work out a better chakra exchange with that furball, whether he likes it on not!_

He hated to admit it, but the safest bet was to send the scroll away to make sure that it got to Tsunade. That way it wouldn't matter what happened to him out here. Not in the big picture anyway.

Oh, he would still fight to his last breath to get back to Konoha… to Tsunade, Kakashi-senpai, Sakura, Iruka-sensei, and everyone, it just wasn't in his nature to give up after all, but he knew the main priority here. _Gods damned Kabuto_! He cursed. If it came right down to it, as ANBU, he was expected to destroy himself rather than be caught or killed by enemy shinobi, where he could be studied for information. But Naruto was Naruto, and he would fight to the bitter end to survive in battle, and Tsunade had known that before she instated him.

Naruto landed heavily on the forest floor and drove his sword into the ground. His blood was mixed with that of other shinobi on his armor and there was no way to get a clean smear of his own , so he bit his thumb instead.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!"

A small magenta toad, about the size of Pakkun, appeared when the smoke cleared and looked up to Naruto.

"I need you to take this scroll to Tsunade-baa-chan, and her only, got that! No one else! And you need to get to her now! It _has_ to be there before morning! Got it?"

"Yes boss!" the toad confirmed and opened its mouth.

He couldn't remember when most of the toads had started to call him _boss_, but he didn't mind it. Naruto took the scroll out of the case and placed it on the toad's tongue. The scroll disappeared as the toad swallowed it. The jinchuriki then secured the empty case on his back once again.

"Go! And hurry!" the jinchuriki ordered.

The toad gave a small nod and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto was confident the toad would reach Tsunade before the morning, now all he had to do was survive long enough to get close to Konoha. The hostile shinobi were coming up on him now. Naruto pushed down the creeping chill that exhaustion and blood loss caused, even while sweating, and looked around with determination.

"Come on you bastards!" the jinchūriki called out taking his sword in hand.

Naruto felt and vaguely saw several shapes appear out of the darkness above him.

"Found you!" someone called.

Naruto crouched, tenses his muscles, and focused his chakra into the katana. The sword glowed with a faint blue light. With a mighty push he shot up in the air and brought the katana up at the nearest opponent. The chakra infused blade cut right through the unlucky shinobi's middle effectively slicing him in half. The jinchūriki _really_ hated to resort to moves that resulted in instant death, but when it came down to survival, he was determined to get back home. He had people waiting. He also couldn't become Hokage if he were dead. If ANBU had taught him anything this last year, it was that sometimes… sometimes you did whatever _had_ to be done to complete a mission and survive.

The jinchuriki gathered chakra to his feet and landed on the side of a tree during the confusion his sudden attack had caused. The dozen or so shinobi scattered away from him, but Naruto was able to feel the chakra of each attacker. Two had jumped out of the way and landed together on a tree branch. The jinchuriki spiked the amount of chakra infusing the blade and with a deft movement swung the sword in their direction. Blue wind infused chakra held the shape of the blade as it peeled off and went spinning toward the Sound-nin. Naruto heard the two shinobi cry out as the missile chakra blade sliced cleanly through the two nin and the tree they were perched on.

Naruto looked to the left as a burst of sound, that would deafen and slice him to ribbons, was about to hit and swung himself behind the tree with every bit of speed he had left. The sound waves hit the tree splintering most of it and Naruto instinctively brought his arm up to shield his head against the debris. Even with the tree as a shield and the mask protecting his face from splinters, the sound waves penetrated his ears indirectly, leaving him feeling dizzy. The blond shinobi staggered a step before he gritted his teeth and regained his balance. Falling out of a tree would so not be cool.

Naruto parried and dodged a hail of shuriken that came flying down at him. The jinchuriki landed on the ground and flipped back out of the way of a Sound-nin attempting to impale him on a sword and staggered again. His head was still fuzzy from that sound blast, but Naruto knew that wasn't the problem. He was dropping out of Sage mode and his muscles were exhausted. There were at least a couple of Sound-nin in the group with enough chakra to cause him trouble too. Like the bastard that just launched that sound attack his way. He really did not have the energy or the time left to take these guys out one by one. Not if he expected to stay ahead of the main force behind him. He needed something quicker and more efficient.

The blond shinobi kicked his attacker with every bit of strength he had left. The enhanced kick snapped the Sound-nin's sword and he heard the sickening crunch of shattering bone before the shinobi went flying back into the night.

Naruto used that opportunity to put some distance between himself and his attackers so that he could get that jutsu off. With his heightened senses, the jinchuriki could hear the bubbling of a river up ahead. He stopped his sprint before he got too close to the riverbank. He knew exactly where he was. This particular river was wide, fast moving, and during this time of year would be freezing cold. Formations of rock jutted up out of the water here and there. The blond shinobi went through the seals, bit his finger again, and slammed his hand on the ground.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!" He called for the second time that night.

When the smoke cleared an orange toad with blue patterns appeared. He sat about as tall as Naruto stood and could easily carry a person on his back. The toad wore samurai armor composed of a plate cuirass, arm-guards, and traditional pauldrons. A white bead necklace finished off the outfit with the kanji for _loyalty_ on the largest bead.

"Busy night," the toad remarked.

Naruto ignored him and quickly dug into his pack. He pulled out a plain case and shook out what looked like a roll of long individual pieces of parchment connected by a wire. He threw the roll at the toad who easily caught it.

"Do me a favor Gama, and set that up there while I distract them, would ya?" Naruto asked pointing to a location near the river.

"Right. You want me to take a few? It's been a while since we fought side-by-side," the toad asked already moving to the spot Naruto had pointed out.

"We'll see. For now just back out of the area, I don't want you getting caught in anything."

Without saying anything else Naruto leapt back up into the trees towards the gathering Sound-nin. It only took a few seconds for the group to start chasing him again, but this time he wanted them to follow. The jinchuriki led them back away from the river for a few minutes then back toward where he had summoned Gama. He concentrated on not moving too fast so that he was always just right ahead of them, and trying not to make it look like he was purposely leading them. He only hoped that since they hadn't seen the river beforehand and with their prey right in front of their noses, they wouldn't notice the turn around he just led them through.

Naruto leapt to the ground, covered up a wince, and ran up to the edge of the bank. He pulled a rolled up wire from his pocket, slipped one end around the sword guard and the other around his wrist and waited. It only took a few seconds for the Sound-nin to reach the area. He could tell they were confused by his sudden halt. He could also tell they were too nervous to approach him directly. The larger group still heading their way from the north, the ones who had chased him all the way from Oto, had to know who he was from his fighting style, but this group right here, the ones sent to stall him, didn't. Still, most shinobi didn't just approach an ANBU, _any_ hidden village's ANBU, on a whim. Especially not one who, just minutes ago, killed three of their group in the span of a few seconds.

The jinchuriki could sense when the change happened. He could see the moment the group started to draw confidence from each other. He could almost feel their thought process. They had the superior numbers right? ANBU or not, he was only one person and they were ten. The group started to edge towards him finally, though they still seemed cautious.

"You do know you're never gonna get this scroll from me right?" Naruto asked.

The jinchuriki continued on with the calmest voice he could muster at the moment.

"I mean come on, the rest of your buddies couldn't stop me so far. Hell, they couldn't even stop me from _taking_ it from them. Right out of your hideout, in your own country, by the way."

Naruto couldn't help but throw that last bit in there. If there was one thing that motivated a person to push past their fear, it was pride. He'd succumb to that temptation himself in the past. The comment caused a few clenched fists and a snarl or two.

"I'll tell you what. Turn around and leave _now_ and I'll let everyone walk away. I give you my word. I don't want to hurt you. Go back to snake-face and tell him you lost me or something. Otherwise I'm going to _make_ you stop following me. It's your choice."

That provoked a few snickers from the shinobi. Naruto didn't expect them to actually leave, but at least he'd offered them the chance to live. It was more than most shinobi would have done. But still… still he didn't like maiming, or killing other people, no matter what they had done. _I don't think I can take ANBU anymore_, he thought. When he got back he was seriously considering telling Tsunade that he was done, but that thought would have to wait.

"I heard about you goodie-goodie Leaf-nin, think your better than everybody else. Always have to stick your nose in where it doesn't belong and sprout on about peace and friendship. Well guess what, this is a shinobi world! There is no such thing!"

The rest of the Sound-nin drew strength from the outspoken one and finally gathered their nerve.

"Then come and take it, if you think you can!" Naruto yelled back and readied himself.

The group of shinobi started to charge the jinchuriki. They couldn't surround him from behind because of the river, but he had to act before any of them took to the air.

_That's it suckers, step right up!_

As soon as the first Sound-nin got within range Naruto gathered the last of his chakra and went through a set of hand seals.

"_Doton: Yomi Numa_!"

The ground underneath the Sound-nin grew heavy and wet beneath their feet. Chakra infused mud formed in the area and clung to feet, hands, weapons, anything it came into contact with. Angry shouts could be heard from the group as they struggled to free themselves and not sink.

"I'm going to have to thank the geezer sage for showing me how to do that!" Naruto cheered.

Earth style jutsu wasn't an element he was comfortable with, hell; the _only_ earth jutsu he could do was the Swamp of the Underworld. He wasn't skilled enough at it to completely sink them, and he didn't have enough chakra left to expand the swamp, but it was his first time using it in battle and under these circumstances, Naruto was pretty pleased it worked period. It held the group of enemy shinobi down long enough to go to plan B.

"Wait until I get out of this, you bastard!" someone called from the muddy ground.

Some of the Sound-nin were already breaking a foot or a weapon free here or there. It was now or never.

Naruto threw his sword towards the swamp and it hit the trunk of a tree just on the edge of the jutsu with a loud thunk. A couple of the shinobi looked up at the sword wondering what the hell the Leaf-nin was aiming for. The jinchuriki focused his chakra into the wire around his wrist. The blue glow shot along the wire and into the sword. The sword lit up with an eerie blue light and the nearest Sound-nin's eyes went wide at what the sword was embedded in. The shinobi looked up in fear as the glow spread from that one tag along a network of wires and tags surrounding the swamp.

The other Sound-nin looked up to their death as the ghostly light spread all above them.

"I'm sorry, I warned you," Naruto said with obvious sadness coloring his voice.

Naruto jerked the sword back from the tree, propelling it towards him, and jumped as far away from the area as he could as the first explosive tag went off. The other tags followed suit and the resulting explosions shook the ground. The shockwave still picked Naruto up mid-air and propelled him painfully into a tree where he heard and felt bone snap. The jinchuriki dropped to the ground covering his head. Pieces of branches, splinters, leaves, and earth were sent flying by the blast.

The jinchuriki coughed as the dust cloud spread over him and lay there a moment trying to gather his wits. His Sage mode was definitely gone now and his body felt like it weighed a ton from the fatigue the jutsu caused. His muscles were exhausted, and he was hungry, in pain, and still oh so tired. His ears still rung from that sound blast and damn it, he really wanted some nice relaxing ramen about now. Sakura was going to _kill_ him when she saw the state he was in! Maybe, just maybe, Kakashi and Tenzo were right and he _was_ too reckless at times.

It was a struggle to get his heavy eyelids to follow his command and open, but he had to get up. _Had to_. He could lay around in Konoha when he got there, but for now he had to keep moving.

The blond shinobi groaned as he pushed himself into a sitting position with his good arm and grimaced. Yes, his left arm was definitely broken, damn it. The most he could do for it now was put it in a sling to stay out of the way; Tsunade or Sakura could deal with it later. He groaned again as he used the tree for support as he stood. The jinchuriki had to pause and wait for the wave of light-headedness to pass. When his head stopped spinning quite so much he used his good arm to pull his sword over to him by the wire still attached to the hilt. He was about to sigh and make an attempt at bending over to pick it up when a sudden feeling of killing intent washed over him.

Naruto looked up just in time to see a very pissed off Sound-nin bear down on him. He made a clumsy dodge and just barely missed being flattened. The missed punch kicked up dust and dirt as it made a small crater in the ground. The jinchuriki stumbled back and regained his balance. The Sound-nin had bulky gauntlets that looked like massive bracers on his arms. Naruto had seem these before though, the device was capable of firing shocks of dense air that the shinobi could mix with chakra to create a sound wave attack that could be disorienting or deadly, depending on how much chakra the shinobi pumped into the jutsu. There was no way he was going to be able to win a long drawn out fight with this guy in the crappy state he was in.

Naruto jerked the sword toward him. The movement was enough to distract his opponent and he took the opening to jump back and take up a fighting stance. The jinchuriki grabbed the sword with his good arm and charged. Ending this quickly was a must.

The jinchuriki sidestepped another punch aimed at him and swung the sword up in an arch attempting to slash the man up the chest. The Sound shinobi parried the sword, however, with his huge gauntlet, and punched Naruto square in the chest. The blond shinobi felt the slight chakra infusion of the gauntlets and the force sent him skidding backward. He barely kept his feet under him as he slowed to a halt.

Before he could get his sluggish muscles to react the Sound-nin fired another blast of air that struck Naruto sending him flying backwards. The ANBU mask he wore cracked and shattered under the pressure of the attack and the pieces went flying as well. He hit the forest floor hard and skidded across the rough ground before coming to a stop. He coughed on instinct and could feel the blood trickle out the side of his mouth.

"Shit," was about all he could gasp through the pain.

Naruto tried to take a deeper breath, but it hitched in his chest and made him cough again. The coppery taste in his mouth grew stronger and made him gasp. Dark spots began to dance at the corners of his vision as he tried to draw in air. _No! I refuse to die here_! The jinchuriki coughed and gasped again as he tried to push himself up. All he needed was a moment to draw on some of the Kyuubi's chakra and he could force himself to get up, injuries and all.

While he was still struggling to get his body to respond a dark shaped loomed over him and he looked up to lock eyes with the Sound-nin. Pain and fatigue clouded blue eyes met angry brown ones. Naruto was struck by the amount of hate those brown eyes held toward him.

"My squad! My whole fucking squad!" the enraged Sound-nin shouted.

The Sound-nin brought his arm up to aim the gauntlet directly at Naruto. He knew he was done for if he took another of those direct blasts, but at this range, there was no chance of dodging. He couldn't even catch his breath enough to get up let alone counter-attack this guy.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" the Sound-nin still ranted.

Naruto saw the chakra gather in the gauntlet and prepared himself for whatever was going to happen. He refused to close his eyes if this was really his end. _Obstinate to the last, eh Naruto_, he could hear Kakashi's voice saying in his head.

Chakra gathered in the gauntlet, the Sound-nin pulled back his fist and then thrust it forward towards the enemy shinobi with the intent to obliterate him. As the chakra charged blast was about to kill him, Naruto saw something large and orange land in front of him. The Sound-nin's arm was forced to the side at the last second and the blast of air hammered into the ground beside him, causing a crater in the dirt, instead of his head.

The sudden interference made the Sound-nin pause and Gama took that opening to smash a shoulder, pauldron and all, into the shinobi. The armor broke the Sound-nin's nose causing it to splatter blood as he was picked up and thrown back. The shinobi recovered quickly and shot a sound blast at the toad. The large orange toad was much quicker than he looked and used his powerful back legs to propel himself straight into the air. The blast missed the toad and passed over a still prone Naruto.

Naruto hadn't passed up the distraction Gama was causing either. He reached inside himself and pulled on the Kyuubi's chakra. Not enough chakra to use his whole jinchuriki form, but just enough to get the hell moving again. He could feel the slight physical change that came over him as his nails grew and his sight and hearing sharpened in the night. He was sure if he could see himself the whisker marks on his face would be darker and his eyes would be red with vertical pupils. Even though his body was still fatigued, his limbs felt lighter and the pain dulled some, which was exactly what he was counting on. He could still feel the sickening heaviness in his chest, but he pushed past it.

He could also feel a burning sensation just under his skin and inside himself. He had a hunch that might have something to do with using way too much chakra and that probably wasn't good. Sakura had warned him against pushing his body so hard. _You might be able to enter Sage mode and shrug off attacks or control the Nine Tail's chakra to enhance your speed and do that crazy heavy Rasengan, but that doesn't mean your body isn't paying for all that later! Sage or not, jinchuriki or not, you're still human! You aren't invincible! You got that moron!_ He could still hear her lecturing him after a particularly brutal mission that didn't go so well.

"I'm sorry Sakura, but I need to make it back alive for you to lecture me again," Naruto thought out loud as he stood up.

Naruto stood and the Sound-nin focused on him again and fired. This time the jinchuriki was able to roll away from the sound blast. While the blond shinobi rolled clear of danger, Gama reacted and jumped into the enemy shinobi's line of sight. The orange toad aimed a punch at the Sound-nin. The shinobi managed to dodge some of the attack and the punch clipped the man in the left shoulder instead of the head. It was only a glancing blow, but the toad was much stronger than he appeared. Gama could tell it dislocated his should by the strangled cry the shinobi gave off and the unnatural way the arm hung afterwards.

The Sound-nin, almost beyond reason now, gave another enraged shout and brought the gauntlet on his remaining good arm up to point at the toad. Gama once again shot straight into the air and the shinobi tried to follow the toad's movement by raising his arm. He never saw Naruto move in behind the toad while he was distracted. The jinchuriki had a glowing blue-white ball formed in his good hand. Naruto brought his arm up and slammed the swirling ball right into the other shinobi's middle.

"_Rasengan_!" he shouted as the enemy shinobi flew backwards.

Gama landed several feet away and Naruto stood there panting trying to catch his breath. Forcing enough chakra out to form the Rasengan made the burning feeling under his skin and deep inside him feel worse. It felt like his insides were on fire. _So not good_, he thought. But there was nothing he could do about it now. He let the Kyuubi's chakra drop off and the effects faded. Sharp red eyes faded back to ocean blue.

The enemy shinobi didn't get up and Naruto debated whether to go check on him or not. He had been using the chakra sensory that the Sage mode and Nine-tails chakra afforded him long enough, that even while not in either form, he could still sense people's chakra on his own. He couldn't feel anything from the enemy shinobi, but that didn't necessarily mean anything when his body was so fatigued and it felt like he was on fire inside. He might just be too burnt out to feel anything, but still, how many normal people actually got up from a direct Rasengan? And he'd definitely hit that guy dead on. The man should be dead, or at least unconscious.

With a tired sigh Naruto sheathed his sword in the scabbard on his back and slowly approached the shinobi. The Sound-nin was laying face down where the Rasengan had spun him in the air. The jinchuriki had to wince at the sight of the dislocated shoulder lying at a painful angle because of the useless arm being trapped underneath the man's body.

Naruto's blue eyes went wide when he noticed the man was still conscious. He was glaring at him him with that same hateful expression from before. Blood was dripping from the shinobi's mouth, but those hateful brown eyes looked straight into his blue ones for the second time that night. The man gave a triumphant sneer that made the jinchuriki's blood run cold with unease.

"You think you won?" the Sound-nin asked.

The act of talking made the shinobi cough and splatter the ground with blood. It was then that Naruto finally felt the large amount of chakra building up and he could see the vibration of the man's chest. The shinobi was gathering every last bit of chakra in his body to the gauntlet lying hidden beneath him and suddenly Naruto knew that he had fucked up. Understood that he was simply too burnt out to feel something he should have, _would have_, normally.

"You lose," the man managed with a bloody smile.

The bastard actually _smiled _at him.

The Sound-nin's body convulsed and was immersed in a silent, bright white light. Naruto jumped back with everything he had, as time seemed to slow down.

He saw Gama spring forward to try and reach him. He saw the bright light expand to follow him and he instinctively brought his arms up to shield himself mid-jump, for all the good it would do.

He knew, _he knew,_ he wasn't going to clear the area in time. Just like he knew Gama wasn't going to get to him in time either. He just hoped the toad would be all right somehow.

_Baa-chan, Sakura-chan, everyone, I'm sorry_.

As the silent light enveloped him, Naruto couldn't help but find it ironic that damn it, he _still_ had a habit of walking right into traps even as a jonin. Some things never did change.

Time seemed to catch up all at once and the roar of the explosion overwhelmed Naruto's senses. The last thing he felt was slamming into something hard and immovable with bone shattering force, then the shock of cold water before he lost consciousness.

**TBC**

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><p><strong>Comments and reviews are always yummie and appreciated, but never required. Hope you enjoyed part 1.<strong>


	2. Unease Over Konoha

_**Author's note:**__ I know there's quite a lot of explaining from Shikamaru and Tsunade in this chapter, I apologize for that, it's just to set up the current world after the time skip. And I thought it'd be a little more interesting coming from character perspective, then just typing it out formal like. So I hope this chapter doesn't come off as too tedious._

_And yes, this __**is**__ going to be a NaruSaku story for those of you who asked._

_Also, thank you, thank you, for all the nice reviews for chapter one and all the people who faved the story! It's gotten a better reception that I had expected, you guys are awesome!_

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><p><strong>Part 2: Unease Over Konoha<br>**

_Perhaps there is no agony worse than the tedium I experienced waiting for Something to Happen.__  
><em>

- Lance Loud

* * *

><p>The moon was rising over the village of Konoha and it's pale light illuminated the quiet streets below. Shops and businesses closed hours ago and most of the citizens were tucked safely in their homes away from the chilly, crisp spring air. A lone person or couple could be seen going to or fro from the few bars or the select restaurants that catered to the late night patrons. Most of the late night businesses gained their profit from shinobi working night shifts and the occasional night owl civilian. Though tonight, the business owners noticed with dismay, the shinobi patrons were absent, leaving for a slow and unstimulating evening. All in all, it was a typical, if quiet, night in Konoha.<p>

On the outskirts of the village it was a different matter all together. Tension hung thick in the air here. Shinobi gathered to patrol the walls and guard the gates of Konoha. By order of the Hokage, extra patrols and guards had been called to duty. Squads of ANBU, deadly and unnoticed, patrolled the forests surrounding the village. The jonin, the ones still in the village and not out on a mission, had all been put on high alert to keep a watchful eye out tonight. The village shinobi were ready, if called, to gather and react to an approaching threat within minutes.

The majority of the shinobi didn't know the details of what was going on, which wasn't unusual in their line of work, especially when it had to do with their jinchuriki. All they knew was that they were waiting for Naruto to return tonight and that trouble, in the form of Sound-nin, might very well be on his heels. And if that were the case, deal with said trouble immediately, and secure Naruto's safety.

That was all most of them needed to know anyway. In the last few years many had grown fond of the jinchuriki and he had became a symbol of the future to many of the shinobi and villagers alike.

* * *

><p>One shinobi waiting that night, however, <em>did<em> know the details of the situation. His spiky hair was pulled back into a ponytail and blew in the gentle night breeze. He wore the typical Konoha chunin and jonin flak jacket with the Leaf forehead protector tied around his arm. A black strap, which held a tiny radio transmitter, was fastened around his neck. He was perched in a tree in the forest outside of Konoha with the rest of his squad. He looked like he was standing there without a care in the world from his relaxed posture, but inside his mind was running a mile a minute and the tension in the air possessed him as well.

Shikamaru couldn't help but be tense and worried, even if he'd never show it. In these last two years, Konoha's jinchuriki had become one of his best friends. Along with Choji, the three of them had had some really good times together and weathered the terrible ones.

"Piss on this waiting! Why can't we just go look for him instead of standing here with our thumbs up our asses?" the annoyed question, almost a growl, came from beside the lazy jonin.

An agreeing bark came from the large white dog on down the line and Shikamaru sighed. There were two shinobi that couldn't wait patiently if their lives depended on it. Ironically, they were waiting for impatient shinobi number one, and impatient shinobi number _two_ just happened to be standing right beside him. _Troublesome_.

"Because we're one of the sensor retrieval squads in standby Kiba-kun," Hinata answered patiently, used to her teammate's behavior, "we can't go until the Hokage gives the order."

_Wonderfully patient Hinata_, Shikamaru thought. It saved him the trouble of having to answer. An aggravated Kiba was a pain in his ass and he was in no mood to talk.

He was the squad leader of this sensor team, temporarily dubbed Team Nara, which consisted of Kiba and Hinata as the trackers, Chouji as a guard for his team… like Kiba and Hinata really _needed_ a guard anyway, and Ino was standing in as a medic. Ino was part of the _Torture and Interrogation_ _Force_ with her father these days and had really advanced her mind persuasion and manipulation skills. She didn't normally go out with squads like this, except ANBU on rare occasion, but tonight was an exception and her skills as a battle medic were the higher priority.

"The hell good does it do if Naruto's in trouble or got caught and can't _get_ here?" Kiba grumbled squatting down on all fours.

Akamaru gave a little whine and head butted his partner.

"Will you just shut the hell up already! You've been complaining for the last hour!" Ino practically hissed.

Hinata, trying to keep the peace, tried to head off the rant she knew Kiba was about to give, by making little shushing noises and calming gestures.

Shikamaru sighed again. Like Ino had a right to bitch at _anyone_ for bitching anyway. The platinum blonde was the best nagger he'd ever seen. It was her best skill by far. She always got him to do all kinds of useless things with that nagging.

Why, oh why, couldn't he have Sakura and Shino on his team instead? Sakura irked him a lot of times too, with her behavior towards Naruto, a subject he wasn't even going to think about right now, but she could at least wait _quietly_. Too bad Team Kakashi was in standby also and Sakura was with them.

The squabble was in full swing now as Ino and Kiba let out pent up frustration by bickering with each other. Hinata's effort was going totally unnoticed. It took entirely too much energy to bother to tell them to knock it off, so the lazy jonin tuned them out instead. As long as they didn't start using jutsu against each other, he really didn't care. He wasn't their babysitter.

The lazy jonin disliked it, hated it even, when Naruto was sent out on solo missions. Team Kakashi took on some crazy missions, as it was, since they were pretty much the strongest squad the village had at its disposal, especially with two Kage level jonin, an elite rare wood type user, and the best medical-nin the village had beside the Hokage herself. Their missions were especially dangerous when they were deployed as ANBU.

Considering how well known most of their team was, it would be impossible for them to live as most ANBU did, away from the public eye and masked, even within the village. People would notice their disappearance too much, so they didn't hide it, per say. It was a part of shinobi life no one talked about. When Team Kakashi disappeared for days or weeks at a time and no one had heard about them being sent on a mission, everyone knew then that they were off doing whatever as ANBU, and when they returned the shinobi knew not to ask questions. It was the way it worked for them.

And the civilians of the village had no clue their beloved jinchuriki and the rest of his squad had anything to do with ANBU. They just assumed they were away for a long mission.

But those solo missions of Naruto's… they were something else.

The lazy jonin knew his friend was a living weapon. It's what a jinchuriki was _made_ for and Naruto had grown into that role over the years. He was a Toad Sage and jinchuriki rolled up into one package and when shit went down, well Shikamaru was still amazed sometimes at how strong his friend had become. He hated to admit it, but his dad had been right years ago, some times the best teamwork they could offer the blond shinobi was to stay out of his way.

As Hokage, Tsunade had a duty to protect this village at all cost, even if that meant sending her favorite shinobi, the boy she held the most dear in her heart, into crap like this to protect everyone. And Naruto, altruistic to the core Naruto, would go on these insane missions. _Of course he would, the idiot could be bleeding from the eyes and still ask if someone else was all right_, Shikamaru mentally sighed.

Basically, his friend _was_ an effective weapon and powerful shinobi, and it was logical to send him to do the things no one else could… but that didn't mean he had to _like_ it. _At all_.

Shikamaru felt a soft nudge on his arm that interrupted his thinking and turned his head to look at the person who'd gotten his attention. Chouji stood on his other side with a thoughtful look on his face. He wore his typical red shinobi garb covered by the Akimichi armor. His long brown hair fell over his shoulder as he turned his head to look at Shikamaru.

"Ne Shikamaru, why _can't_ we wait farther out?" Chouji asked.

At least Chouji posed the question reasonably. Shikamaru understood his friend was just trying to understand the situation instead of complaining. He also got the feeling the larger shinobi was seeking reassurance from him, something the lazy genius couldn't give him.

"There _are_ shinobi waiting farther out from Konoha, Chouji," Shikamaru explained calmly, "we, on the other hand, need to stay close so orders can be relayed swiftly."

It was the first time Shikamaru had spoken aloud in a while and he noticed it caught everyone's attention. Ino and Kiba had even taken a break in their bickering.

"Listen, I know everyone's wound-up tight, but trust me, we _don't_ want to have to get deployed. It means the situation has gotten ugly and that doesn't bode very well for Naruto. So can we just stop with the pestering, please?"

"Sorry, Shikamaru," Chouji apologized quietly.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Chouji," Shikamaru sighed.

The lazy jonin didn't say anything more, Chouji would understand anyway. At least he bought some peace and quiet for a minute or two as everyone looked reproachful and clammed up.

What Shikamaru said wasn't entirely accurate either. The situation was _already_ ugly; they were just waiting for the potential fallout. If they got the order to head out, it meant Naruto was caught, hurt, or dead and couldn't get back with the scroll. He couldn't tell his team that though. Besides, they would just worry more, as everyone here was pretty close to the jinchuriki as it was.

That gods be cursed scroll that started this whole annoying mess in the first place and his squad was potentially going to have to go into who knows what to recover what they could. Technically, the scroll came first, then Naruto… but Shikamaru honestly couldn't care if someone took that scroll to Kabuto _or_ the Amegakure emissary and shoved it were the sun doesn't shine.

* * *

><p>Some distance away, in the same forest, the second sensor team was waiting in standby and no less tense. Sakura sighed and shifted her weight for the tenth time in the last five minutes. An action Kakashi didn't fail to notice.<p>

"Relax, Sakura, with any luck we're all out here for nothing. Try to enjoy the first spring air while you can, ne," Kakashi said in his usual carefree tone.

He might be giving her the smiling eye, but it didn't fool the pink-haired kunoichi anymore. His lax attitude was just for show, and she knew it, knew it because Kakashi _did_ care, whether he liked to admit that to anyone or not.

"Do you really believe that, Kakashi-senpai?" she had to ask.

"What I believe isn't going to change the fact that we have to wait," he answered in that almost bored tone he liked to adopt when he didn't want to answer.

Sakura restrained herself from giving a frustrated huff. It's not like that would affect her team leader anyway and when Kakashi didn't want to answer a question, he simply didn't.

Neji, who had previously been standing there quietly, spoke up.

"I am worried for Naruto as well, but I have faith in his abilities."

She wasn't sure if Neji was trying to reassure her or was just commenting. It was hard to tell with him and that calm facade. The Hyuuga, an ANBU now as well, was temporarily part of the team for this mission. They needed a sensor since Naruto wasn't there.

As everyone here was ANBU, they had all been briefed on the situation. Sakura would have been _on_ this mission if Tsunade had only let her go _with_ Naruto.

"Anyone can be overwhelmed with enough numbers and Naruto has probably been doing some intense fighting for the last two days," Tenzo pointed out.

_Not helping_! Sakura's mind screamed out. Creaming Tenzo, or should she call him Yamato since they weren't in ANBU uniform, whatever, would be awkward since he was still their team leader when Kakashi wasn't around.

"And every Sound-nin in the area is going to come after him, no matter what. Dickless will be lucky if he can get out of Oto at all," the fifth member spoke up.

_Him_, however, she could nail.

"Thank you for pointing that out, Sai!" she finished by flattening the pale shinobi against the hard ground with her fist.

Yamato sweat dropped glad it wasn't him. He'd forgotten how scary the young kunoichi could be when she was tense and worried. Also, lately, she had been _extremely_ edgy and snappish with anything to do with the jinchuriki. Prying into _that_ situation, especially after hearing the rumors of their very public fight, was _not_ on his list of things he wanted to know. No thank you.

"Maa, maa, Sakura," Kakashi said while making calming gestures with his hands, trying to save his dense teammate from further harm.

"What I think they mean," Kakashi went on, "is that if anyone can do it, it would be Naruto. We're here just in case he needs a little back-up."

Sakura wanted to point out that she wasn't a kid anymore and Kakashi didn't have to try to appease her, but instead she just crossed her arms, leaned against a tree, and tried to ignore _Sai_. The men left her alone, recognizing the _back off _posture.

Sai almost said something into the silence, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Neji elbowed him hard in the ribs, hoping Mr. Oblivious would get _that_ hint. He, at least, had an instinct for self-preservation.

The pink-haired kunoichi knew she was being a bitch to her boys lately, as she called them, and that they didn't deserve it. She just couldn't seem to get her nerves to calm down. She was extremely glad everyone was in the flak jacket right now and not in ANBU gear. All the uniform did was remind her of the start of this whole horrible mess she'd gotten herself into with Naruto three weeks ago during their last mission. She couldn't even blame Naruto; it was mostly her fault because she couldn't make up her own _mind_.

To this day, he still protected her. She had come to him in a time of need, when she felt so vulnerable after that crappy mission, and he was so supportive about it. They had shared a moment in those desecrated woods and shared a kiss that made her knees weak, which should have led to the happily ever after like she read in the story books. But noooo, she had messed that up and pushed him away. Even though he went on like normal, she knew she had really hurt him this time. Naruto had tried to be the responsible one and talk to her about it later, but she brushed him off, not ready to face the possibilities yet. Then they had had a falling out last week and to make matters worse, it was embarrassingly _public_.

The boys of their age group had taken to going out together once a week and everyone who wasn't on a mission came. Some nights it was just dinner together, others they went to the clubs or bars, they took turns choosing. The pink-haired kunoichi thought it was good for them to hang out and she could see that Naruto really enjoyed those nights.

This week was simply dinner. Lots of sake had been involved though and Sakura had the suspicion it might have been the boys effort to cheer up Naruto. Still, that she could handle, what had set her off, as soon as she happened to walk into the same restaurant with Tenten and Hinata, was well… _Ino_ had been there too. With _the guys_, right beside _Naruto_. The last she checked, Ino wasn't a guy! Oh she knew Ino hung around Naruto a lot anymore, because _Shikamaru_ hung around Naruto, and really that shouldn't have bothered her. But Ino was always so flirty. And pretty. And annoyingly good at it.

_Stupid interrogating pig_!

Naruto might have been a late bloomer, but she would be the first to admit, her teammate had become _very_ attractive. Sakura had seen a picture the Hokage had given Naruto of his parents and his mother was a very pretty woman and, well, the rumors about the Yondaime being handsome, were _very_ true. They had definitely produced a nice looking child! And Ino was a flirt by nature, especially with good-looking men, and she was sitting right beside _Naruto_, practically leaning over into his _lap_. And after being trained by the super pervert Jiraiya, Naruto was a bit of a flirt with women too, even if he didn't realize it. And did she mention there was _sake_ there?

Okay, _maybe_ she jumped to conclusions about her two best friends. It was probably only drunken flirting after all, no big deal. But damn, if she hadn't been _jealous_, and it all somehow escalated from there. She had never had a verbal fight with Naruto like that before until Shikamaru, aloof _Shikamaru _of everyone, broke them up.

Now everything was different all of a sudden. Naruto had started to be more formal toward her. He avoided her when it wasn't necessary to be around her and he stopped calling her Sakura-_chan_. She had tried for so long to get him to stop calling her that. It was a trivial detail. It shouldn't bother her at all, right? But if it was no big deal, how could something so simple _hurt_ so much?

The pink-haired kunoichi didn't know where she stood with Naruto, or where she _wanted_ to stand with him, and the confusion was driving her crazy. Mainly because she never thought she might ever like _him_, of all people.

"Urgh! I can't think of something like this right now!" the kunoichi screeched.

Sakura didn't realize she had yelled that out loud until the rest of her team, not so indiscreetly, sweat dropped and backed away from her.

The kunoichi felt her cheeks flush pink and desperately wanted to melt into a tree and disappear like Yamato could do. The most she could manage was an embarrassed half laugh.

"Maybe we should just all relax and wait quietly," Kakashi suggested lightly.

His tone was way too happy to be real.

"Right, sorry," she apologized.

Sakura got the hint and settled down at the base of a nearby tree to wait _quietly_.

* * *

><p>The waiting shinobi weren't the only ones tense and worrying. In the soft light of her office, a busty blonde with long hair stood staring out the window at the top of the Hokage tower.<p>

Tsunade put her hand against the window, leaned her head against the cool glass, and sighed. Staring out the window wasn't going to help him come back any sooner, or safer, but it was a habit she couldn't break. Ever since… well ever since she had let Jiraiya go that last time. She didn't like to think about it, but she had let him go, _knowing_ he probably wouldn't be coming back.

The fool always did have a habit of going off to do what needed to be done for the good of the village without any concern for his own safety.

It was a trait his apprentice annoyingly shared. Hokage or not, she was a fool too for sending her brat out on these type of missions, and then worrying the whole time he was gone. But she couldn't help it. She _couldn't_, because every time Naruto went out, especially by himself, she was afraid he wouldn't come back. And lets face it; Jiraiya's students didn't have the best track record for living to a ripe old age.

Konoha didn't need two Namikaze's to die young protecting them. That, and the brat _really_ needed to take this job from her within the next couple of years. Despite the illusion she kept up all the time to look young and vital, she could feel the wear in her body. Tsunade knew her Sōzō Saisei, the Creation Rebirth jutsu, would shorten her lifespan before she used it. She knew she wasn't counting the years she had left yet, or anything, but she was tired and still had a couple of things left to do in life before she died. She owed it to herself and to _him_. It was time to pass the protection of the village on to someone younger.

The busty blonde hadn't officially announced anyone as her successor, but she knew whom she wanted to pass it to and she trusted he would do right by the village. She had been trusting him to take care of more and more things for years now… including her paper work recently, she couldn't help but smirk at that one. It was great Hokage training, really!

All the other Kages of the great nations already respected and liked Naruto after the 4th Shinobi War, so that hurdle was taken care of to begin with. That had a lot of benefit too. They already knew what type of person the jinchuriki was, mostly honest, overly blunt some times, didn't take any political crap, and very caring for the entire village… and they were _okay_ with that. Even that old fence sitter Ōnoki, who was still the Tsuchikage, despite the fact that he had been saying it _'was any day now'_ for years.

A shinobi also required the approval of the Land of Fire's Daimyō as well as the village jonin to become Hokage. Tsunade didn't think either would be a problem as many of the shinobi assumed Naruto was probably going to be the next Hokage as it was and the villagers had been saying he was Hokage material since Pain's attack. As for the Daimyō, well he was fickle to begin with, and all he and his advisors cared about was the linage of the candidate. Naruto was the son of the 4th Hokage, a descendent of the Senju, student to a legendary Sanin and the famous Copy-nin, a Toad Sage and close to becoming a Sanin himself, and if Tsunade had her way, very soon _her_ apprentice as well. The man had nothing to argue against.

All he needed was more diplomatic and political training. She could fix that by taking him along with her for meetings from now on and start training him in political tactics. Showing him the ropes of the job personally and letting him ease into it. Making him read political documents and study the history and culture of Konoha and the nations they dealt with. Sure he would probably hate some of it, but he would do it because he knew he _had_ to if he wanted the job.

"Tsunade-sama?" a voice broke into her thoughts.

Tsunade turned to face Shizune standing in the doorway looking uncertain. The Hokage was so caught up in her thoughts she never noticed the other woman enter the room.

"What is it Shizune?"

"I was just wondering if you needed anything?" Shizune asked.

"No Shizune, I'm fine," Tsunade finished and turned back to stare out the window.

The heels on Shizune's sandals clacked on the floor and the Hokage could hear the younger medical-nin cross the room to come stand beside her.

"You're thinking about him again," the younger woman remarked quietly.

Tsunade knew she wasn't talking about Naruto.

"A little," she admitted.

"It wasn't your fault Tsunade-sama, then, like now, you're doing what you must to..."

"Enough Shizune," Tsunade cut in, "I know already, I know. I'm still the one who has to live with that burden though."

Shizune didn't say anything else about it and the Hokage was glad.

"I'm thinking of making it official soon," Tsunade said still facing the window.

She knew Shizune would follow her line of thought without explanation, the girl always did.

"He's only eighteen Tsunade-sama, are you sure?"

"He'll still need diplomatic training, I know, and I'm going to have to beat some of those annoying bad speech habits of his out of his head, but is anyone ever _really_ prepared for this job? It's not like it's going to be _tomorrow_ by the time he can take over anyway."

"Besides," the Hokage continued on before Shizune could say anything, "I think he'll already have the jonin support, the villagers will support him too, and I don't really care what those shriveled up old biased crones on the council think. There will eternally be a few nah Sayers left in the village because of what he is, but we'll just have to deal with it. The other four Kages already know how to handle Naruto and the last time the Kazekage was in the village, I _know_ I heard Gaara remark that when Naruto became the Hokage they would get a chance to talk more, even if only through meetings."

"Naruto-kun really has come a long way since Jiraiya-sama took him as an apprentice all that time ago," Shizune couldn't help the fond smile that came to her face.

"The _village_ has come a long way as well. Six years ago, neither the villagers nor the shinobi could tolerate Naruto and did everything in their power to let the poor kid know they thought he was a monster. It still amazes me that after his awful childhood he loves this village so much. With his potential, he could have very well turned into everyone's worst nightmare," Tsunade finished.

"Yes, but Naruto-kun has the strongest spirit I've ever seen and he does have an ability to touch people, to make them want to better themselves as people, just by being near him."

"And it's exactly that strength and ability that's going to lead this village into the future!"

Shizune had to smile at her Master's enthusiasm. Tsunade-sama really was fond of Naruto-kun, they both were. Even though she worried about him being too young, she knew he would be fine. Tsunade-sama would guide him, the jonin would advise him, and his friends would support him. He might be awfully young to become a Kage, but in retrospect, Gaara-kun had been much younger and look how well Suna was doing with him as Kazekage. Gaara-kun had even led them through a war and the people of Suna loved their Kazekage. Shizune also had a feeling the Kazekage would play a big role in helping Naruto-kun cope with being Hokage as well.

"Ahh, the brat will make a good Rokudaime and I can retire and get rid of all this paperwork!" Tsunade seemingly finished a thought in her head, forgetting Shizune was there.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune sweat dropped, "Naruto-kun _already_ helps with a lot of your paperwork when he's in the village."

"Yes well, now he can…"

The rest of Tsunade's sentence was cut off, when a popping sound from behind the two kunoichi, made them startle and turn around.

When the gathered smoke cloud disappeared a small magenta toad sat on the Hokage's desk. Tsunade recognized the messenger toad and knew he was able to carry things larger than himself in a compartment, which defied space and gravity, within his stomach.

"Well?" the Hokage asked impatiently.

The toad, needing no farther prompting, croaked and opened his mouth. His tongue shot out in front of him holding a medium sized scroll. Tsunade took the scroll. She recognized it immediately; they were supposed to be guarding it at the shrine that bordered The Land of Fire and Rain, after all. She opened it anyway, just to verify that it was the right one, then rolled it back up and locked her intense gaze on the toad.

"Where's Naruto? Report!" she demanded.

"Somewhere in the Land of Fire, Hokage-sama. He sent me here to get that scroll to you before morning, I got the feeling something wasn't right. He sounded tired and his chakra felt weak."

Tsunade listened to the toad's report with a growing sense of dread. At least she knew he was alive when he sent the toad. She also knew that Naruto would _never_ send something so important out of his care unless he didn't think he could make it back.

"Shizune!" Tsunade went into full Hokage mode.

"Yes!" Shizune responded to Tsunade's tone.

"Secure this god damn scroll," she commanded handing the thing to Shizune, "so that I can shove it down the emissary's throat tomorrow!"

"Right!"

"And give Teams Kakashi and Nara the all clear! Tell them the package is secure, now go find out missing shinobi, and if they run into any Sound-nin in our country, show them no mercy!"

"Right!" Shizune responded already running for the door.

"Don't you dare die on me before help gets to you brat, or I'll never forgive you," Tsunade pleaded turning back to resume staring out the window.

* * *

><p>"<em>Team Nara, come in<em>," Shikamaru heard through the radio.

"Shut up," the lazy jonin simply said.

All the chatting stopped in an instant as all eyes focused on him.

"Team Nara here, go ahead," he responded touching the button on the receiver.

_"The Godaime has given the clearance to move out. The package is secure, your orders are to find and secure the safety of the delivery boy. If you run into any hostile shinobi, show no mercy."_

"Understood, Team Nara out."

_Damn it_, was about all Shikamaru could think of.

"Looks like your going to get your wish, Kiba," the Nara said with a grim look, "lets go."

All the previous bickering and tension was forgotten as the shinobi focused on their task. The shapes of five shinobi and one dog shot silently off into the night.

* * *

><p><em>"Team Kakashi, come in."<em>

"Team Kakashi here," Kakashi said hitting the receiver button.

Kakashi's voice broke the silence that hung over the squad and everyone focused on the Copy-nin.

"_The Godaime has given the clearance to move out. The package is secure, your orders are to find and secure the safety of the delivery boy. If you run into any hostile shinobi, show no mercy,"_ the radio operator repeated the message.

"Understood, Team Kakashi out."

"Looks like Naruto is going to need our help after all," Kakashi said quietly.

"Let's go!" he ordered.

The waiting shinobi jumped up into the trees and took off towards the north.

Sakura didn't notice as her fists unconsciously clenched. Fear was replacing the doubt and frustration she had been feeling. There wouldn't be any time to sort out her confused feelings if Naruto were dead. _Please be all right until we get there_, she silently prayed.

**TBC**

* * *

><p><strong>I know Sakura's internal rambling might be a little confusing at the moment, but trust me, I won't leave you hanging on those past events.<strong>

**It takes me a little longer to write action sequences than it does introspective chapters like this, so part 3 will take longer to update.  
><strong>

**As always, reviews are never required, but always appreciated.**


	3. Sakura's Memories

**_Note:_**_ This chapter has a lot of Sakura, since the flashbacks are through her memories of events. I've found I'm having a hard time writing her character for some reason. She's more difficult to write than the others. So… I hope she comes off okay, feisty, aged appropriately for a shinobi teen, but still at the core Sakura._

_I was going to italic the flashbacks to set them apart, but for me looking at big chunks in italics is hard on the eyes - it makes me cross eyed, so instead I just set them apart. Hopefully it'll still be easy to follow, if not tell me, I'll figure something out and change it to make it easier for you guys to follow.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Part 3: Sakura's Memories<strong>

_Thinking: The talking of the soul with itself._

- Plato

* * *

><p>Sakura looked around at the destruction, the scattered, broken bodies and matching broken trees that once belonged to the former Land of Rice patties. The earth was torn up in places and smoke rose in the distance, just visible in the failing light. She was responsible for some of the damage, but most of the death her boys had caused. She tried so hard to keep up with them, to be able to walk beside them, and not watch their backs like she had done as a young and naïve girl.<p>

But still - still_ -_ they protected her.

Death wasn't anything new, not as a kunoichi and definitely not as a medic-nin. Ambushing a squad of shinobi, just for the purpose of assassinating them though, that was different, it was also an inescapable part of ANBU.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai had separated and went off to hunt down the remaining scattered shinobi and finish them off. She would have gone too, but Kakashi had ordered her to wait for them. They took it upon themselves to protect her from the act of assassination as much as they could. She didn't know if she loved them for it, or despised the treatment.

A feint groan caught her attention. _One of the poor men must still be alive_, she thought.

In the orange light of dusk, the pink-haired kunoichi made her way over to where the sound had come from. Sure enough, there was still someone alive. His breathing was shallow and irregular, and her trained medical eye could tell he didn't have much time left. Her first instinct was to heal the man. It was her specialty, after all, and what had earned her the rank of special jonin. She couldn't; though, as orders were not to let anyone escape.

Since she couldn't heal him, it would be better to end it then let him suffer. Sakura steeled herself, then focused her chakra as a blue glow engulfed her hand.

The pink-haired kunoichi leaned over the prone figure, intending to use the chakra scalpel to end his life quickly, but paused when the injured man suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were cloudy but they still focused on her. She felt her resolve waiver at the silent pleading look.

Her hesitation made her feel weak. She couldn't always rely on the others to do everything for her.

_I have to, I'm sorry_, she thought as her glowing hand, still perched over the man, began to shake with emotion. _Do it, just do it!_ She ordered herself. She took a deep breath to steady her hand and try again.

Still she hesitated. No wonder her team had to do everything for her. Where was all her resolve to keep up and always push forward?

Emerald eyes went wide behind her mask as someone caught her trembling hand by the wrist. The dying man convulsed suddenly when a familiar sword pierced down through the prone figure and into his heart. Sakura sat frozen in that position and watched as the light died in the shinobi's eyes.

A gentle tug on her wrist broke the spell and she let herself be pulled to her feet. Once she was standing, Naruto pulled the blade free and went about wiping it off before sheathing it. Sakura watched him move around and couldn't help but appreciate the nice figure she saw, even with ANBU gear on.

He had grown taller than her years ago. He was far from short, but he still wasn't as tall as some of the other men, like Kakashi or Rock Lee. The pink-haired kunoichi didn't mind though, it made him seem more slender somehow, a little more effeminate to her eyes – something she would _never_ tell him, which combined with those ocean blue eyes and a smile that could light up the entire room, the whole effect was easy on the eyes. He had let his hair grow longer too and it now framed his face when it wasn't hidden like it was now.

Sakura couldn't remember when she started to appreciate her teammates looks, since she had been around him for years, but it had to be when _other_ girls started to pay attention. That had sparked a protective streak in her she didn't know she even possessed. The amount of jealously that attention caused, it took her a _long_ time to admit that's what it _was_ too, startled her. It's not like she had a right to be defensive. They were just teammates.

Naruto had worked hard to gain the village's respect and he had been making progress, but it was after Pain's attack that people _really_ started to look at him differently. He had been becoming stronger and protecting the village since he first became a genin, but after that attack, people actually _noticed_. His popularity in the village shot up after that, especially after he became one of the heroes of the 4th Shinobi War.

With that popularity though, came the _fangirls_. Sakura felt a vein throb in her head just thinking about them.

Women of all ages noticed Naruto now and with his open and chatty personality; he was a natural flirt with people. It wasn't just that either, Naruto had a natural charisma about him that touched people inside. Now that they trusted him and weren't afraid of the Kyuubi's container, people just wanted to be near him. He motivated people to want to be better and try harder at everything. That charisma drew people to him like a moth to the flame. And Naruto, dense Naruto, had no idea he had that effect on people, or what it did to the females. _Just like Naruto_, she mentally sighed.

The pink-haired kunoichi already knew she cared deeply about him, he was one of her best friends along with Ino. It was just that lately, some times when he entered her personal space, it became uncomfortable. She could _feel_ her pulse and breath quicken when he got near and she wanted to reach out and _touch_. That feeling of need confused her.

It was probably just lust, she had decided. That was natural when around someone attractive, right? And they were still teenagers. How could her hormones not be set off? Yes, all fine and normal. But somewhere along the line, she had to admit; she had slowly been sucked into the flame like the rest of the moths, without even noticing. Sometimes late at night, while waiting for sleep to claim her, she had to wonder what it would be like to be_ with_ Naruto, to have someone so intense focus all their endless energy on her. It was kind of a scary thought, but not all together unpleasant.

Naruto finished off another shinobi and that act brought her mind back the current situation.

Why? Why was she still so much weaker than the others? Always standing _behind_ him when all she wanted was to be _beside_ him?

Naruto reached up and lifted his fox mask to perch it on the top of his head. She could see the thick orange outline around his eyes and the yellow irises. He probably went into Sage mode to expand the area he could sense chakra to run down the stragglers easier.

"This thing suffocates me, I swear," he remarked running a hand over his face.

"You're not supposed to have that off," she responded automatically.

She tried to make her voice as steady as possible, but it sounded weak even to her own ears.

"No one here is going to tell. Kakashi-senpai and Sai are still some distance away and there's no one else is in the area. I won't let anyone sneak up on us," the blond shinobi reassured her.

_Okay, steady Sakura, take a deep breath and move on_, she thought, _all you have to do is scoop your wounded pride off the ground before Kakashi gets back_. _No big deal_.

The pink-haired kunoichi tried to take a steadying breath, but it came out shaky. She felt the prickle of frustrated tears and she let out a little sniffle. _Don't you dare cry_, she told herself and was glad the mask hid her face. She only hoped Naruto hadn't heard her.

The jinchuriki's eyes narrowed slightly and she knew he had heard. _Damn that sharp hearing of his_, she groaned to herself.

Naruto came to stand beside the kunoichi and put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"You aren't weak, Sakura-chan," he said softly.

_And damn him for knowing what I'm thinking!_ How did he always know? Ino couldn't even pick up on her emotions so well. She didn't deserve the assurance right now. Not when she _still_ needed to be protected. She might be a special jonin, and not a full jonin yet, but damn it, she was part of Team Kakashi and the apprentice of a legendary sannin! Her and Tsunade were the best medical-nins in any of the shinobi nations; she _should_ be better than this.

"Yes, I am!"

She ripped off the mask and held it out toward the blond shinobi.

"I don't deserve to wear this! Not when you have to protect me all time! I'm a special jonin, I shouldn't need you to do my job for me!"

By the end of her rant Sakura was yelling and she could feel the angry tears spill over and slide down her pale cheeks. The fact that she was crying made her feel like that useless little girl in the Chunin exams all over again.

Naruto was stunned and stood there looking wide-eyed at her. For a moment Sakura wondered if she went too far and was about to apologize, but the jinchuriki snapped out of his stupor.

"Is that what you think we're doing?" he asked in a strange tone she didn't recognize.

Sakura wanted to yell back _yes, of course you are_, but something in that tone made her pause. She couldn't tell what he was thinking from his expression either, but in the weak light she could see the hard set of his jaw.

Naruto grabbed her outstretched wrist and she dropped the mask in surprise.

"What are you…?"

Her question was cut off when the blond shinobi forced her wrist close to her face. His grip wasn't hurting her, but it was firm and she was forced to look at her gloved hand.

"Do you see these hands Sakura-chan?" he asked in that same strange tone and shook her wrist slightly for emphases.

"These hands are made to _heal_ people. They can fix and treat anything from a scratch to having a fucking sword run through someone's chest. They can siphon out poison and perform operations. They can comfort and touch and _heal_, don't you understand that?"

Through his speech Sakura could feel Naruto's grip on her wrist becoming gentler, but he didn't let go.

"These hands," he gave her wrist a slight shake again, "give _life_ to people."

Naruto brought his free hand up and laid his palm against hers. The slightly intimate touch caused an unexpected pleasant feeling in the kunoichi's stomach.

"These hands," he indicated his own, "were made to punch, break bone, and _hurt_ people. They were made to _take_ life."

The jinchuriki let go of her wrist finally, but the two held that pose.

"You're hands should _never_ be used to take life unless you have to. We aren't protecting you, Sakura-chan, you don't need us to. We're letting you do what you're good at, what you're _meant_ to do. What we _can't_ do."

It was Sakura's turn to stand there speechless.

A tear rolled down her cheek, but for a different reason this time. The pink-haired kunoichi had never felt so overwhelmed by anyone's words in her _life_. No one had ever described her status as a medic-nin like that before. As a life giver. It was flattering, to say the least, and she appreciated every word of it. The description was even more endearing because she knew he wasn't lying. Naruto said what he thought, so when he complimented someone, it wasn't bullshit.

Reacting to the emotions swirling inside her, and to what felt right at the moment, Sakura leaned in to place her forehead against his.

"You're wrong," she said quietly.

He gave her a questioning look and she could tell he was about to try to make his point again.

"These hands," she continued, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, "weren't made to hurt. They protect people. Kakashi-senpai, Tsunade, the villagers and… me. They protect us all. It's what _you_ do."

Sakura could tell her unexpected praise made him emotional as Naruto dropped his gaze to the ground and swallowed hard. After he collected himself again and looked up, the blonde shinobi finished by intertwining his fingers with hers so they were holding hands.

_Like a moth to the flame_, the phrase came to her.

That memory reminded her of her earlier train of thought and the fact that she was standing nose-to-nose with Naruto, holding his hand even, became blaringly obvious.

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed as the two became aware of their close proximity. Her breathing and heartbeat quickened in response and she felt the heat rush to her cheeks. She was sure she was _blushing,_ of all things. The touch of his hand felt warmer and his breath caressed her face. The pink-haired kunoichi could feel the tension in Naruto's body and she could tell he was breathing faster too, but neither one of them moved away.

Naruto cautiously brought his free hand up to brush away the tear tracks on her face. The touch was warm, gentle, and unsure. His hand sort of lingered there afterward and the pink-haired kunoichi unconsciously leaned into the touch.

Warm, dry lips brushed hers in a gentle kiss. The kiss was chaste, fleeting, and made her insides flutter.

Naruto backed his head away, but only an inch or so, and seemed to wait. Most likely to see if he was going to get flattened, she realized. Sakura licked suddenly dry lips and stared into clear blue eyes, Sage mode forgotten.

Liking the sensation, this time she initiated the kiss. Sakura brought her hand to the back of Naruto's neck and pulled his head to hers. The kiss was a bit harder this time as both involved became more confident in the act. Naruto relaxed at her action and the fact that he wasn't going to get punched. She felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her closer.

The pink-haired kunoichi felt a light touch on her lips and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. She didn't have a lot of experience with this type of intimate kissing; tongues, touch and all… but her teenage hormones knew what _they_ wanted. Right now, they _demanded_ more contact.

Naruto's arm around her waist held her firmly against his body, but she wanted _more_. Sakura reached up to run her hand though his blond hair, knocking the mask and bandana clear off. The blond shinobi reacted to her hands in his hair with a soft moan and she couldn't help but feel satisfied. The jinchuriki's free hand started to roam and caress her body where the armor didn't block the way. The sensation was intoxicating and she couldn't help but moan in response to his touch.

One hand still gripping Naruto's hair, Sakura's free hand somehow found it's way under his armor to grope firm muscle. When did she take her gloves off? The more he reacted physically or vocally to her touch, the more she explored.

The pink-haired kunoichi grunted, but never broke the kiss, as her back slammed into the trunk of a tree. When the hell had they moved? It didn't matter - her brain was shutting down anyway.

Using Naruto and the tree as support, the kinoichi wrapped her leg around the blond shinobi to secure him to her. The action caused their hips to grind together and Sakura was sure her insides were going to melt. Naruto's lips left hers and started to move down her neck nipping and licking. The kunoichi was glad the tree and Naruto's grip were holding her up, because right now she wasn't sure if her legs would.

Naruto abruptly stopped his administrations and brought his head right next to hers. He was panting, they both were, and his blond hair hung around his face. He looked good flushed and disheveled like that, some part of her brain still capable of functioning, noticed.

"Sai," he said with a disappointed pant.

"Who cares about Sai," the pink-haired kunoichi said leaning in to kiss him again.

Naruto stopped her by bringing his hand up to cup her cheek and moving his head back.

"No, I mean Sai is _coming_, any second now and Kakashi is right behind him," he said still breathing heavily.

"Oh?" was all Sakura could come up with in her dazed condition.

After a moment, her brain rebooted.

Mission, ANBU, other _teammates_. Squad captain coming!

"Oh!" she responded standing up straight.

Naruto, still breathing hard, backed away from her finally. The two shinobi straightened armor and concentrated on slowing their breathing down. Naruto ran a hand through his free hair and Sakura patted dust and bits of tree off her backside.

The blond shinobi walked over and bent over to retrieve the forgotten about mask and bandana, while Sakura desperately tried not stare at him bending over. Okay, so maybe being teammates with Naruto and Kakashi rubbed off on her and she was a perv now too. The thought didn't bother her as much as it should have.

"The removal of the ANBU mask during a mission is strictly forbidden," an overly pleasant voice broke into her thoughts.

Sai cocked his head curiously at the matching murderous glares he was receiving. Naruto didn't bother to respond as he tied the bandana around his hair and slipped the mask on.

"Thank you for the reminder, Raven," Sakura said in her best professional voice as she calmly walked over to her dropped mask.

She appeared calm, but inside she was cursing Sai and his whole existence, while struggling to slow her breathing. The pink-haired kunoichi picked up the mask and slipped it back on. _Gloves, gloves… where are my gloves?_ She thought frantically looking around.

"Here," Naruto said beside her.

The jinchuriki held out her gloves and Sakura grabbed them. Her hand was just touching his on the fabric, and they both let their hands linger a moment before he let go.

Sakura couldn't help but smile a bit under the mask. She might be cursing Sai's name right now, but at least it was _him_ that came when he did and not their captain. Kakashi wasn't as oblivious as Sai, and there was no way he would miss the scattered pieces of uniform and flushed looks on the two. He would have known right away there was more going on than simple waiting.

"At least that wasn't Wolf-senpai," Naruto said quietly mirroring her thoughts and she nodded in agreement.

"At least _what_ wasn't Wolf-senpai?" came from right behind the pair.

Naruto and Sakura both jumped and turned around to face Kakashi standing right there.

"Nothing!" they responded in unison.

"Uh huh," drawled Kakashi in a tone that said he obviously didn't buy it.

_Damn it Naruto! What happened to not being snuck up on?_ The pink-haired kunoichi silently fumed.

"Well, lets wrap this up and head out," Kakashi said after a pause.

"Right!" the remaining three shinobi answered.

Anger aside, Sakura couldn't help but be smugly pleased that it was likely _her_ presence beside the blond that was distracting his senses. _Take that you fangirls!_ The mask hid the matching smug smile as she followed Kakashi to take care of the bodies.

* * *

><p>"Sakura!"<p>

The shout brought the kunoichi back to the present and she narrowly missed the tree branch her head was heading straight for.

Beside her, Yamato gave a relieved sigh, and she sent out a silent thank you. At the speed they were traveling through the trees it could cause serious injury to go headfirst into one. Since becoming ANBU, Kakashi had really trained the team hard in speed and stamina. It was a painful experience, but Team Kakashi could cover large distances in a short amount of time. Most shinobi would be hard pressed to keep up with the group, but the fact that Neji stayed with them easily wasn't surprising. The Hyuuga was on that stamina freak Gai's team for years, after all.

Sakura couldn't help but let her mind wander some. She had kissed Naruto, okay practically made out with her teammate, and she couldn't regret that part. It was nice. More than nice, it made her insides burn with the desire for more, and she had never experienced that before. She admitted that she definitely wouldn't mind doing it again.

Her head had even been stuck in the clouds for a couple of days after that. Ino caught onto that mood instantly and wanted to know _why_ her pink-haired friend was practically _glowing_, she called it. Sakura had wanted to tell her to _stuff it_, but Ino made her living off of torturing and interrogating people for more information. The platinum blonde could be very persuasive when she wanted gossip and damn if she wasn't persistent. So when Ino cornered her during her lunch break, Sakura had told her.

* * *

><p>Ino looked stunned for a second, then blinked as her thoughts caught up and smiled that secretive smile of hers, the one that says, <em>I know something you don't<em> know.

"Well it's about time," the platinum blonde said out loud.

She practically made out with her teammate and that was _all_ Ino had to say? Sakura didn't know why she let Ino provoke her still, but she got defensive anyway.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked gritting her teeth.

Ino sighed and face palmed which sent Sakura's blood pressure rising even more.

"Honestly Sakura, some times you really are dense."

Sakura crossed her arms, huffed, and tried not to throw her drink at the poor innocent pigeons near the park bench.

"Okay then," the platinum blonde said before she could think of a response, "so now what?"

"What do you mean _now what_?"

"Don't play coy with me pinkie. What I mean is, are you going to do something about it or not?"

That question caught her off guard.

"Like what?" was all the pink-haired kunoichi could come up with.

Sakura could tell her friend was putting in the effort not to face palm again and it made her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. To further add to the annoyance factor, Ino continued in a voice one used to explain things to a five year old.

"Okay… lets go over this slowly. Girl and boy kiss, girl likes kiss, boy has been known to like girl a lot in the past, now the big question is – does girl want to keep doing that with boy? And if she does, girl really needs to act on it."

Despite the mocking tone, Ino did have a point, which frustrated Sakura even more. She _had_ thought about doing that again. Just remembering the image of Naruto panting and disheveled, standing nose-to-nose with her, made the kunoichi's breath quicken. To be honest, hell yeah she wouldn't mind acting on the situation, but with Naruto, there was no half way. If she went for it that would mean to make the commitment to give a relationship a try.

Ino, used to her friend's thought process, interrupted her thoughts.

"Come off it, you aren't the type to do things half way either. Neither of you are. Honestly forehead, if you like the kiss so much and you know there could be potential, why don't you just try it? It's Naruto! You know he'll worship the ground you walk on."

Ino made it sound so simple. The platinum blonde must have understood the hesitation in her thoughts.

"Think about this then. Naruto's easy to be around, a lot of fun - if kind of dorky some times, he's probably the most powerful shinobi in the village, would be totally devoted to whoever he has a relationship with, he's most likely going to be our boss soon, and – your personal favorite right now, he's attractive."

"Why don't you go out with him if you think he's so great," Sakura couldn't help but say.

"Don't think I haven't thought about it, forehead. I'm just not ready to date one person yet, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Trust me."

"Now let me finish," Ino continued putting her hands on her hips for emphases, "if you don't get your head out of the clouds and take the chance with Naruto, someone else will – lots of girls are looking for that chance. Naruto's been trying to get your attention for years, but he's not going to wait forever. Believe me when I say this, he _is_ going to take notice of one of them some day and move on. I wouldn't even blow off Hinata's chances lately. They've become pretty good friends, if you haven't noticed."

Ino picked up her forgotten drink and bag and looked Sakura straight in the eyes.

"Think about it, but don't take too long. Make up your mind and if its something you want, just take the chance already! Unless the thought of someone else being by Naruto's side for the rest of your lives doesn't bother you. Who knows, if you take long enough, maybe I might even go for it. And _I_ get what I want."

Ino left without another word, leaving Sakura to her thoughts.

* * *

><p>Sakura's mind had been in confusion after that. Sure she liked him, but was she ready for a relationship with anyone? It had taken her years to get over Sasuke, what if she tried with Naruto and it didn't work? How would she handle <em>that<em> one? Could they still work around each other? Naruto was probably going to be the next Hokage, was she even worthy to date a Kage? Did she even want to take on that responsibility in the first place? Urg, it was so confusing to have feelings for your future boss!

Naruto had shown up at her place later that night to talk to her and she still had no answers.

The blond shinobi had taken to wearing the jonin flak jacket and dark shinobi gear like Yamato and Shikamaru, along with one of his Sage jackets. He liked the jackets because they reminded him of Jiraiya and the legacy his father left and provided color to the otherwise dark shinobi garb. Shima was so pleased that he liked the first one she made for him, that the old toad made him at least four more, in a variety of colors.

It's not like shinobi gear was the most flattering thing to wear, but he still looked good that night. She hadn't made up her mind whether she wanted to try a relationship with him yet, but his physical presence was very distracting. Too distracting. Her mind might not know what it wanted, but her body sure did.

They had chatted a little bit as the situation felt awkward between the two. When Naruto gathered his nerve and tried to talk to her about what happened in the woods after their last mission, Sakura had done her best to avoid the topic. She wasn't ready to talk about it yet and he was just too distracting to be around. Her mind kept imagining the feeling of his hand on her or imagining pinning him to the wall and kissing him senseless.

Sakura couldn't take the sensory overload _and_ decide whether she wanted to commit to a relationship at the same time, so eventually she made up an excuse that she had to get back to the hospital and needed to get ready, so could he please leave, and I'm sorry about this, we'll talk later.

She wasn't quite sure all what she said, but she could tell that he didn't buy it, even if he didn't argue with her. Ever since Naruto trained to control the Kyuubi's chakra he had an unnerving knack for telling if people were lying to him, and she knew she was busted. He never said anything though and she felt guilty for lying to him.

They never did get around to talking about that night or the night in the woods, after that. Sakura made sure she stayed busy and away from her teammates the next couple of weeks.

She avoided him until they ran into each other last week in that restaurant with flirty, pretty Ino practically hanging off him.

* * *

><p>"There are chakra signatures up ahead."<p>

Neji's words snapped her mind back to the current situation faster than a swift kick ever could. The group stopped on instinct.

"How many?" Kakashi asked immediately.

"Six at about 400 meters and 15 closing in at 800. The larger group is scattered, like they are searching. It is possible there may be more heading our way that have not yet come into range of my sight."

"The six ahead must be a scouting party," Yamato remarked.

"Likely searching for Naruto to try to stall him for the others to catch up," Kakashi continued, "can you see him?"

Neji almost squinted in concentration for a few seconds.

Those felt like the longest few seconds of Sakura's life. If the enemy shinobi were here that meant Naruto was in the area and if he was alive the Byakugan would find him immediately. Why was there a delay? There shouldn't be a delay!

"I believe so. Straight ahead, he is not moving," Neji finally answered.

Sakura released her breath - she wasn't even aware she had been holding it.

"Believe so?" she couldn't help but speak up.

"It is Naruto's chakra signature, but it's wrong from what I know it to be," the Hyuuga tried to explain.

"Wrong how?" Kakashi spoke up this time.

"Naruto has always had two chakra pathways, but only one is usually active. When he brings up the Kyuubi's chakra, while his own is still present, the fox's chakra is the dominant one. There is never a mixing, but that's what's happening right now. That's not all, both are very feint and growing weaker."

"He's trying to keep him alive," Sakura remarked.

Everyone looked expectantly at the kunoichi when she spoke.

"If Naruto dies, so does the Kyuubi. I've seen it happen before when Naruto is seriously injured, the Kyuubi is trying to keep them alive until help comes, by using it's chakra to sustain his body. The only problem is, that chakra does a lot of damage to his pathways and without Naruto conscious to control it, he can only withstand it for so long."

Kakashi nodded his head in understanding of the explanation then got down to business.

"Then we need to hurry. Where is Team Nara?"

"We are farther ahead of them because of our intense pace, but they are holding the parallel route we planned beforehand. Hinata-sama and I are still within Byakugan range of each other. In fact, her range of sight is farther than mine, she can likely see Naruto and the enemy shinobi as well."

"All right then…"

"The scouting party has changed directions, they are moving toward Naruto!" Neji cut Kakashi off.

"No time then, lets go!" he ordered and took off.

The rest of the team followed without complaint.

"If Hinata can see all this already, Shikamaru knows the situation," Kakashi said while they continued on their breakneck pace, "we'll trust in him to react accordingly. Sai, as soon as we secure Naruto and Sakura gives you the all clear, take them both back to Konoha and let Tsunade know what's going on. The rest of us will handle the Sound-nin."

"Understood," Sai spoke up for the first time.

_Hang on Naruto, I'm coming_, Sakura mentally pleaded. _I promise we'll work this out later._ The pink-haired kunoichi was clenching her firsts again, this time in determination. She _would_ sort out her feelings and make things right between them. But first, she had to save him and if anyone touched Naruto before she got to him – _I'll kill them_, she vowed.

**_TBC_**

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><p><strong>Originally I had planned to include the flashbacks AND them finally getting on with the story, all in this chapter, but the length was getting up there, so I decided to break it off here and split it up. The back-story took longer than planned to write, but I thought that first kiss needed some attention.<strong>

**Again, thank you for the lovely reviews and to everyone who added the story to their favorites! They've motivated me to work on this story faster! Normally, I'm a phenomenally slow updater.**


	4. Clash! Team Kakashi vs The Sound

**A/N: **_Happy _very_ late **Independence** and **Canada** **Day** to my North American readers!_

_Sorry about such a long wait for this chapter, work __**sucked**__ during the holiday. To make up for such a long wait, here's an **extra** **long** chapter for your summer laze-around-in-the-AC pleasure.  
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_Also, I start vacation today, and I wanted to post this chapter for you guys before I left, otherwise it'd be another week long wait, so if there are more typos than usual, I apologize. In my haste it isn't as proof read as it could be, but those are the breaks._

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_Again **DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CH.545 of the Manga**_

_Okay, who else found that Minirasen-shuriken freakin' badass? As well as that crazy Rasengan riot and vacuum thing? Gooo learning how to be a proper jinchuriki! And I have to say, I was very proud of Tsunade for sticking up for Naruto against A! And very, very relieved when that wasn't really Neji going insane.  
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><p><strong>Part 4: Clash! Team Kakashi vs. The Sound<br>**

_The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong._

- Andy Rooney

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><p>The lone Sound-nin remained hidden and made his way carefully towards his target. The rest of his scouting party was close behind him, but his job, as their fastest shinobi was to scout out the river ahead of the group. They had come across the bodily remains of a squad of his fellow Sound-nin along with signs of multiple explosions, yet there was no Leaf-nin amongst the bodies. His leader figured no one could get out of that kind of fight without some serious injuries though, so the Leaf-nin had to be close by, and he was sent to scout ahead.<p>

His search proved fruitful as he slowly and painstakingly moved into position for a better view.

Peering through the dense green foliage he was able to see the enemy ANBU they had been pursuing. The Leaf-nin was lying sprawled and unmoving on his back. The moonlight filtered through the breaks in the canopy and reflected off the ANBU armor and the shinobi's blond hair.

The ANBU mask was missing and from his vantage point he could see his enemy's face, even with the damp blond hair falling over his closed eyes. The ANBU's features were slack and pale in the moonlight. The dark circles under his eyes and feint blue sheen to the lips stood out in stark contrast against the overly pale skin. The Sound-nin wasn't sure if it was the play of light or fact, but the enemy ANBU looked young. Had this _boy_ really taken down that entire squad as well as an _entire_ _base_ back in Oto?

Powerful or not, ANBU or not, the boy looked dead. It would be so easy to go search him for the scroll they were after, and then slit the brat's throat in his totally defenseless state – if not for the presence of the large orange toad. The toad was lying on his side next to the boy. The thing wasn't moving, but if the summons was still there, that meant the kid wasn't dead. There was no way to know if the toad could fight without engaging it. Waiting for his squad was the safest bet, so he settled down closer to the ground.

The man cried out in alarm as he was plucked from his crouch and hoisted into the air before he knew what happened. Something was wrapped and constricting painfully around his mid-section, effectively pinning his arms down. It was impossible to move or breath. The Sound-nin glanced down in fear to trace the knobby tongue holding him in the air back to the toad now glaring at him. His eyes went wide as he realized his mistake. He had thought the pair defenseless and gotten too close in his curiosity.

The Sound-nin shrieked as he was slammed into a tree, then the ground just for good measure. Gama was pleased when he heard the telltale cracking of bones and the shinobi went slack in his unyielding grasp. _Payback for breaking some of the boss' bones_, the toad smirked to himself.

Gama tossed the limp shinobi into the water to be swept away by the river.

The large orange toad retracted his tongue and sighed. Pulverizing a straggler or two was easy enough, as well as satisfying, but the toad knew if a larger force came upon them, they were done for. He had been farther from the center of the blast than Naruto had, but he still sustained some painful injuries blown around like that. He would have thought of retreating home then, if not for the fact that the jinchuriki never resurfaced in the river on his own. It had taken everything he had to dive into the water, latch onto the boy with his tongue and keep him above the water until he managed to get them out of that miserably strong current.

Naruto hadn't moved since he fished them both out of the cold water. The toad suspected he cracked his head pretty good in that explosion and listening in the stillness now, the boss' breathing was rough sounding. The most disturbing thing though, was he could _feel_ that furball's chakra still coming from Naruto, and it made his skin crawl. Most likely the damn fox was trying to save it's own ass by doing what it could to keep it's host alive, but even knowing that, the feeling gave him the creeps.

The toad's powerful rear leg was broken so he couldn't stand. The most he could do was use his tongue, which was effective against idiots like the one he just chucked in the river, but he couldn't fight a group. What he _should_ do is return to Mount Myōboku, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Naruto defenseless. Gama wasn't wearing the kanji for _loyalty_ for nothing. Help would either arrive or the enemy would find them and if they both died here, then so be it. He refused to run.

The sound of movement caught the toad's sharp senses. Looks like someone did hear that Sound-nin's dying cry. The toad waited to see which it would be. Within a few moments another Sound-nin jumped from the trees to land a respectable distance away. _Figures_, he sighed. Gama narrowed his yellow eyes at the enemy shinobi, but neither moved. He knew the shinobi was wary to come any closer. He was just biding his time, most likely waiting for his fellow Sound shinobi to catch up, but there was nothing the large orange toad could do about it in his current state.

One by one, five more shinobi showed up to surround them in a semi-circle, effectively closing them in next to the river. The shinobi stayed away from the pair as they drew varies weapons. Gama knew what was coming; they were going to attack him and Naruto at long range. Fill them with holes from all sides while staying out of striking distance. The toad thought about launching a water bullet at them, but if he were lucky that would only take out one of them spaced apart like that. The rest of them would pick him and Naruto apart from a distance and since he couldn't stand and Naruto was still unconscious, there would be no running from fate.

So this was it then? The loyal toad couldn't help but smirk a bit. Him and the kid had fought some good battles over the last couple of years. He had no regrets. For the second time that night, time seemed to slow down.

The toad, accepting his fate, watched calmly as the Sound-nin all launched their attacks at once. Most threw weapons, while a few launched various ninjutsu_._ The toad could do nothing but watch them come.

Gama's eyes went wide in surprise as the shadow of a person appeared right in front of him. The person landed gracefully on one foot, took one step back with the other, and pushed off.

"Kaiten!" a familiar voice yelled.

Rotating blue chakra formed a protective sphere around the trio and the weapons and ninjutsu bounce harmlessly off the shield. As the shinobi spun to a halt, long hair swirling around him, Gama recognized him immediately as one of Naruto's friends.

"Nice entrance, Hyuuga-kun. I owe you one."

Hyuuga Neji flashed the toad a rare, if quick, smile.

"I think I'll take that favor out of Naruto instead, Gama-san."

To say the sudden interference shocked the Sound-nin was an understatement. Before the group could collectively grip this new development a second familiar voice rang out.

"Doton: Doryūsō!"

Stone spikes shot out of the ground at the Sound-nin forcing them to jump back from the group or be struck. One Sound-nin cried out as a stone spike impaled him in the middle before he could react.

"Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu!" a third familiar voice entered the fray.

A shark made from water rose from the river and slammed into two more Sound-nin mid-air. The two were flung out of sight into the surrounding area. The three remaining Sound-nin skidded to a halt some distance away.

Yamato used the distraction to jump between the group of Sound-nin and Naruto. The Sound shinobi silently regarded this new group of enemies.

"Sakura!" Kakashi called from right beside the orange toad.

"Right!" the pink-haired kunoichi responded already running for the pair.

"Thank you for staying Gama, but we'll handle it from here. Please return to see to your own injuries. Sai, stay close to Sakura, you already know what to do," Kakashi ordered.

Without waiting for a reply Kakashi jumped to land beside Yamato. Neji gave one final stoic look down at Naruto and silently followed the silver-haired jonin.

Sakura ran up to the pair and knelt down beside Naruto.

"He's in good hands now," Gama remarked tiredly laying his head back on the ground.

The orange toad disappeared in a puff of smoke.

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><p>"Team Kakashi is engaging the hostile shinobi that surrounded Naruto-kun. More are coming into range to join the fight shortly," Hinata explained.<p>

"Is Naruto's chakra still as you described it before?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes," the Hyuuga confirmed.

Team Nara stood perched in the trees as Shikamaru briefly evaluated the situation. Choji could see his teammate's intelligent mind running through every possible scenario and jumping ahead to all of the conclusions. The Nara would then choose the course of action for the outcome he most desired.

Shikamaru knew this situation became largely unpredictable from the moment Naruto went down. Being fluent and adaptable was a part of shinobi life though and possibly the only real plan they could make. The lazy jonin hated to play it by ear, but sometimes it was annoyingly unavoidable. Hinata's information about Naruto was the most worrisome piece of the puzzle at the moment… that, however, he could do something about.

"We'll intercept the group from the east trying to flank Team Kakashi. It leaves them to deal with the brunt of the force until we arrive, but they'll handle it. Getting caught from behind, even though they can't surprise Neji, would still be the most troublesome situation while trying to protect Naruto and Sakura from all sides."

"Ino," Shikamaru looked to the blonde, "can you sneak by to get to Sakura? It'll break our formation, but I think you'll be needed more there."

"Of course," Ino responded without needing to consider the request.

"Good, then go."

Ino gave a nod and turned to jump away from the group.

"And Ino? _Don't_ get caught," Shikamaru remarked before she could leave.

The platinum blonde smirked prettily at Shikamaru over her shoulder.

"Remember whom you're talking to," Ino said in her most flippant manner.

Without further delay, Ino disappeared. The Nara knew she would be fine. She may not be the strongest shinobi in a close range fight, but Ino was smart, and damn _stealthy_ when she wanted to be. She wouldn't get caught, she knew it and he knew it, but he still had to rag on her for appearance sake. It was how they worked.

"All right then," Shikamaru said to the rest of the group, "lets go."

"Ambushing the ambushers," Chouji chuckled pushing into the air.

"About damn time we did something!" Kiba cheered.

"Mmm," Hinata, hair flying freely behind her, made an agreeing sound.

The Inuzuka was clearly at the end of what little patience he had. Shikamaru could _feel_ the need to take action rolling off his remaining team members, even quiet Hinata. To those who knew her though, that wasn't so surprising. The Hyuuga heiress might be shy and timid acting, but she fought like a wildcat when it came time to protect those she cared about. Shikamaru didn't envy their enemy, Naruto _was_ her first crush, after all.

With everyone so wound-up, the Sound-nin wouldn't even know what hit them.

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><p>Sakura paid the toad no heed as he disappeared. She looked down at Naruto's still form. She couldn't remember ever seeing him so pale and it frightened her. Maybe it was just her imagination, but he was far too still as well. If she couldn't hear him struggling to breath, she'd of thought he was dead.<p>

The thought made her heart feel heavy and a knot formed in her throat. She had to force herself to swallow that lump down. The pink-haired kunoichi brushed the blond locks out of Naruto's eyes and let the back of her hand linger at his cool cheek. The blond shinobi didn't respond to her gentle touch.

"Sakura!" Sai's quiet warning came from above her.

Sakura looked up startled at Sai in time to see a small bird come to life from her teammate's scroll and take flight back toward Konoha. The action and Sai's quiet warning reminded her of the urgency for speed. Right. No time for that now. She had to stabilize Naruto enough to move him and then they could get him back to Konoha, where her Master would be waiting to help take care of him. Now was not the time to wimp out. He was a patient, nothing more. Sakura forced her mind to look at it clinically and detach herself from _who_ it was she was examining.

The kunoichi blocked out Sai's movements beside her and the fight already beginning nearby and focused on her task. With a steady hand she activated and used the chakra scalpel to precisely cut the straps securing the breast plate down, then lifted it free from her patient and tossed it aside. Now that that obstacle was out of the way she felt her patient's pulse.

_Pulse irregular and tachycardic. Skin cold and clammy. Obvious cyanosis to the lips. Shock and probably hypothermia have set it. The hypothermia works to my advantage temporarily and slows down blood loss. Chakra exhaustion and blood loss apparent._

Sakura leaned down to listen to her patient better, and then lifted each eyelid.

_Breathing shallow and rapid. Definite wheezing and diminished breath sounds. The lungs are filling up, blocking his ability to inhale properly. He probably inhaled water from the river. Blood around the lips and teeth. Internal injury to the chest likely. Patient unresponsive, pupils dilated. Concussion, but no signs of bleeding from the nose or ears._

The kunoichi gently ran her fingers through the damp blond hair until she felt the lump at the back of the skull.

_Found you. Possible fracture to the skull_, she thought.

Sakura took a deep steadying breath. _Now to take a deeper look_. The kunoichi brought her hands above Naruto's chest and activated the Shōsen Jutsu. A green glow enveloped her hands and extended down to the blond shinobi.

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><p>The three remaining Sound-nin stared down the three Leaf-nin. <em>Stalling for time<em>, Kakashi realized, because of course, they were just a scouting party. The stronger fighters would be behind the group. They would bide their time until help arrived.

Kakashi's only objective was to keep the enemy shinobi distracted from Sakura and Naruto until Sai was able to carry them away. So time was on his side for a change as long as they stayed focused on him and his teammates. The longer they stalled, the longer Sakura had to work. The biggest issue would be if they were flanked from behind. Guarding Sakura and Naruto from three sides could be trouble, but the silver-haired jonin trusted Shikamaru to help with that and it was almost impossible to sneak up on Neji.

It would be so easy for this skilled group to take out these scouts then wait for the others and end the fight quickly with ninjutsu. Powerful ninjutsu used to take on groups was fairly wide-scale, though, and ran the risk of Sakura and Naruto getting caught in it if the enemy did something unexpected that deflected or changed the course of their attacks. They would have to play this cautiously for a short while.

"I don't suppose you'll just turn around and go home?" Kakashi asked calmly.

The silver-haired jonin almost chuckled when the middle shinobi, probably the leader, looked at him like he had grown three heads.

"Quit jerking us around," the leader said back.

"Well," Kakashi shrugged, "it was worth a shot. Now Naruto can't say I didn't try."

The corner of Yamato's mouth turned up in a half smile.

"I'll attest to the fact that you at least offered, sempai," the younger man responded bringing his hand to his chest in a submissive gesture.

"He _is_ getting awfully picky about that lately," Kakashi remarked.

"Naruto will be Naruto," Neji spoke up.

"Um, hello?" the Sound-nin asked.

"True, but I hope he never changes. Don't tell him I said that, though," the silver-haired jonin said standing with his hand in his pocket.

"I think it's good to have at least one idiot around who tries to give enemies the chance to surrender as well," Neji almost had to smile, almost.

"Hey!" the Sound-nin tried again.

"Sometimes I wonder whose really in charge of this team," Kakashi complained.

"Well Naruto has led Sakura and Sai out on missions recently and he is your vice-captain. Maybe the strain gets too much for you anymore?" Yamato couldn't help but tease his elder teammate.

"You say that like I'm old," Kakashi sweat dropped.

"Stop ignoring us you bastards!" the Sound-nin screamed, clearly getting frustrated.

"Ohh, are you ready to fight now? I was beginning to wonder," Kakashi deadpanned.

"What is it with you people? Get them!"

_Gotcha_, Kakashi mentally smirked to himself as the Sound-nin focused on them and charged.

"Kage Senbon!" the man yelled as he threw a handful of senbon.

The long needle like senbon divided mid-air and flew toward Kakashi. The silver-haired jonin heard the slight ring of multiple tiny bells. He wouldn't even need the sharingan for this; he had seen this before. The silver-haired jonin drew the kunai he had been holding out of sight and in a blur of motion, easily parried the senbon.

"I've had some experience with that one before. The jutsu relies on the bells right? A person will rely on their hearing to avoid the senbon with bells and forget about the silent ones. But if you know the technique, it's easy enough to avoid. You'll have to do better," Kakashi explained.

The Sound-nin growled in frustration, drew multiple kunai from his hip pouch, and threw them all in the air.

"Sōshūjin," he muttered and all the kunai hovered in the air around the shinobi.

The rain of kunai shot at Kakashi as one and he jumped to the side to avoid as many of the projectiles as he could. The Copy-nin was forced to parry the remainder and felt a sharp pain as one slipped past and cut a deep gash across his arm.

"Okay, better," he muttered.

The rain of kunai came again and the Sound-nin sneered in venomous delight as the sharp weapons struck the jonin in multiple places.

His celebration was short lived when a puff of smoke enveloped the Leaf-nin. When the smoke cleared the kunai were firmly embedded in a tree stump, which clattered nosily to the ground. The Sound-nin felt a sharp prick and glanced back to see the shinobi he thought defeated standing behind him with a kunai to his throat.

"Better, but still not good enough," Kakashi said as he finished off his opponent.

* * *

><p>Yamato didn't miss the hidden gesture the Sound-nin made before he charged the Wood user. There was no telling what the shinobi was doing until he saw what type of combat style he used.<p>

Oto was made from a collection of shinobi from other nations that had banded together there, first under Orochimaru, then Kabuto later on. Since they were a mixture of shinobi from different origins there was never any defining style attached to Sound-nin. They came in all different combat styles and elemental affinities. That was one thing about Sound-nin that kept them unpredictable… and interesting to fight.

There wasn't any way to predict what this shinobi was about to do until he saw it. Yamato held up his kunai in one hand and steadily transformed the cells in his other arm into wood. The Sound-nin swept his hand in an upward arc at the Wood user and even though the man wasn't that close to Yamato, he instinctively jerked his upper body back.

The Wood user felt pain sear across his chest and jumped back from the enemy shinobi. He glanced down to see a decent slash across his chest. The slash went through the flak jacket into the flesh and blood ran from the wound. It was painful, but not deep enough to be life threatening. If it weren't for his quick reflexes the attack might have done serious damage._ Hmm, blades of wind eh?_ Wind user then. Well, _that_ he could deal with.

The Sound-nin gave him a triumphant smile and Yamato couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the guy. _Cocky after one surprise attack, isn't he?_ The Wood user almost felt sorry for this guy. He spared with a stronger wind-type user often. People didn't get up that easily after being hit by one of Naruto's attacks though, so compared to that, this guy's direct attacks were weak.

The Sound-nin charged him again. Yamato was prepared for it this time. Even if he couldn't see the wind blade, that didn't mean it was unavoidable. He jumped back and rolled to avoid getting in range of the wind blade and put some distance between them. After he gained his footing, the wood user stopped and squared off against the Sound-nin.

"Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu!" Yamato called.

The arm he was hardening to wood before shot out at the Sound-nin. Wooden branches wrapped firmly around the enemy shinobi's arm locking it in place. The wind blade, invisible or not, was useless unless it could be moved.

"Need help?"

Yamato jumped slightly and looked over to see Kakashi standing there.

"No, I'm good."

"Really? Looks like he hit you to me," Kakashi said giving him the one-eyed smile.

"I'm not the only one bleeding here. Why don't you go rest over there or something, _sempai_?" Yamato asked in the sweetest tone he could muster.

The wood user was rewarded when Kakashi's eyebrow gave a feint, almost unnoticeable, twitch. Yamato had to force back a smile. They knew Kakashi wasn't old at 32, he was especially still young by non-shinobi standards, but him and Naruto had enjoyed ribbing the silver-haired jonin about his age recently. It was the only thing that got a rise out of the laid back man, besides messing with his porn, and neither he nor Naruto had a death wish.

"Mokuton: Jubaku Eisō!"

Wood branches erupted from the ground to completely envelope the Sound-nin. The shinobi cried out in alarm as he was encased in a wooden prison. Yamato concentrated and the wooden prison started to constrict. The prison imploded before the Sound-nin could even scream.

"All done," Yamato smiled at Kakashi.

"Hmm," the silver-haired jonin grunted unhappily.

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><p>Neji was surprised when his opponent charged him head on. Obviously, this loser of a shinobi didn't recognize the activated Byakugan or he wouldn't dare face off against a Hyuuga in a <em>Taijutsu<em> battle.

The man came on in a series of quick and precise punches and kicks. The Sound-nin was obviously skilled in taijutsu. Every hit was well aimed and had a fair amount of strength behind the attacks. The Sound-nin was likely a Taijutsu master. He could probably give most shinobi a lot of trouble in a close range fight, but Neji was a _Hyuuga_, and a prodigy at that. The Hyuuga easily blocked and parried all of the attacks.

The Sound-nin's movements slowed after his initial assault and he jumped back from his opponent and took up a defensive stance. The Hyuuga prodigy figured the man was surprised that none of his attacks landed and he was growing suspicious of the white-eyed Leaf-nin. The cautious posture almost made Neji smirk. This guy had obviously chosen the _wrong_ opponent for his combat style. The fight was over before it began.

They needed to buy time, so Neji took a page from Rock Lee's book and used a move he never thought he would. The Hyuuga took up a defensive stance with one hand behind his back, held up his other hand toward the shinobi, and motioned the guy to attack him. _I'm so glad Guy-sensei isn't here to see this,_ Neji mentally sweat dropped, or he would never live the _Youthful_ move down and would have to go into exile from Konoha.

As expected, the action irritated his opponent enough to attack him again. Of course it did, it irritated the hell out of him when Lee did to him. The Sound-nin made his best effort to strike Neji, but the Byakugan saw through every move. With his nearly 360 vision, Neji was also keeping track of Kakashi and Yamato's fight, making sure no one approached Sakura and Sai, and watched as Ino rapidly approached the area, all while blocking his opponent with one hand.

In their mostly one-sided taijutsu battle the pair had maneuvered away from the rest of the shinobi, although they were still in line-of-sight, even for normal eyes.

The Sound-nin was clearly getting irate at his failure to strike someone half his age with his preferred specialty. If the man didn't allow himself to get so distracted by anger he would try something else, specialty or not, like launching some ninjutsu, or even a genjutsu against his opponent. Not like any of it was going to work on a Hyuuga anyway, but the man didn't _know_ it was useless, and Neji found that slightly amusing.

The Sound-nin jumped back from him again and almost growled.

"Who the hell are you?" he snarled in frustration.

In reality, the fight had not being going on that long. The man should have far more control over his anger than that. He obviously wasn't used to being outclassed.

Neji considered irritating the man even further. The Sound-nin was too easily distracted for a shinobi and it would be his downfall, but other enemies were starting to close in on their position. Kakashi and Yamato had dispatched their opponents and were starting to engage new Sound-nin. What caught the Hyuuga's attention was an enemy stealthily coming into range of the Leaf-nin. Neji could tell by his chakra signature that the man was using some sort of genjutsu to try to stealth his way by the group. Kakashi wasn't using his Sharingan yet, he probably wouldn't get snuck up on anyway, but the invisible shinobi wasn't heading for Kakashi _or_ Yamato.

His target was likely Sai, standing protectively in front of Sakura and the prostrate Naruto. Sai was a skilled assassin sure, but he wasn't a close range fighter and a scuffle so close would only distract Sakura. It was time to dispatch this poor excuse for a shinobi and move on.

Not bothering to answer the Sound-nin's question, Neji focused chakra into his palms and dropped into the Gentle First fighting stance. The Sound-nin's eyes went wide as Neji charged him for the first time. The Hyuuga ducked under a punch aim at his head. The offensive move left an opening and Neji stuck with his open palm. The gentle tap hit the man in the side and he staggered back in pain. The Sound-nin was clearly surprised at the amount of agony such a slight blow caused. _Too easily distracted_, Neji thought again. The Hyuuga took the obvious opening and struck him firmly over the heart with one hand, and then right in the head with the other.

Neji was moving to his next target before his opponent's body hit the ground.

The Hyuuga neared the genjutsu user as he was closing in on Sai. Not bothering to wait and see if the pale shinobi spotted the stealthy figure or not, he focused his chakra into his right hand and released it in a burst.

"Hakke Kūshō!"

The invisible Sound-nin was plucked off his feet and hurled into a nearby tree with tremendous force. The tree splintered in protest at the impact and the now visible shinobi slid to the ground in a limp pile.

Sai look unsurprised by the action, whether he knew the shinobi was there or just didn't show his surprise, was anyone's guess.

* * *

><p><em>So much damage in the chest!<em> Sakura thought with despair. _No!_ _Don't you dare choke up! I can do this. You can't treat the concussion, chakra exhaustion, damage to the chakra pathways, or blood loss here. The cuts and broken humerus aren't fatal. Just steady the broken ribs so they don't puncture the lungs, ease the pressure in the lungs, and then get the hell out of here. Right!_

The kunoichi gathered her chakra and sent it out into Naruto to begin the healing process. Instead of her chakra infusing with the patient like she was expecting, pain lanced up her arms. The pink-haired kunoichi gasped and had to break the connection. She grabbed her right arm as she felt the muscles spasm.

Sai looked down at the kunoichi's pain filled gasp in time to see her pull away and grip her arm.

"The hell?" she ground out.

"What's wrong?" her companion asked calmly.

"I don't know," she answered back.

Sakura brought her hands up to Naruto's chest and very slowly sent a small amount of her chakra into him. She felt the same resistance, but this time the feeling was uncomfortable and not painful. She slowly increased the amount of chakra until the pain spiked again and cut the connection. The pink-haired kunoichi felt the first tinge of panic set in.

_I can't heal him if I can't send out my chakra! And if I don't do something now, he'll die before we can even reach Konoha. What should I do?_

"Calm down, Sakura," she mumbled to herself, "block out that it's Naruto. You're a medic, think like one!"

Forcing the panic down, Sakura unconsciously chewed on her bottom lip while she went through scenarios in her racing mind. She had to figure this out quickly. She would not let Naruto die. That was not an option.

Briefly, she saw Neji hurl a surprised Sound-nin into a tree with his Hakke Kūshō. _That's it!_ She thought and ignored the rest of the fight again.

She remembered Neji telling her earlier about how Naruto's chakra seemed _wrong_ and that the Kyuubi's chakra was mixing with his own. Normally, Naruto mostly sealed off the Kyuubi's chakra until he actively called it forth. The Kyuubi, in its desperation, must be putting forth a monumental amount of energy against that seal for the demon chakra to leak out like this. The demon chakra was sustaining his body, but it was also burning the blond up from the inside at the same time. It was also blocking _her_ chakra. The demon chakra had helped her heal his body before, but she couldn't mix her chakra with the demon chakra, it was too overwhelming. If she couldn't connect with Naruto's chakra directly, she couldn't heal him.

The solution then, was to cut off the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Neji, when this is over I'm going to kiss you!" Sakura called out without thinking.

Sakura reached into her hip pack and pulled out a small scroll case. The kunoichi flung the contents out to get what she needed, not caring as the rest of the papers scattered on the ground. _Good, I still have two of these_, she almost sighed in relief.

She looked down at the two paper seals in her hand. They were designed to cut off the Kyuubi's chakra from Naruto in case he started to lose control of himself. Kakashi had given these to her years ago, apparently Jiraiya had given him the design, but she never thought she'd ever have to use them. Especially after Naruto gained control over the Kyuubi and was able to seal off the malicious side of the fox's chakra, there had never been a need. The blond shinobi insisted she keep them anyway, all of Team Kakashi had them, if fact. _You never know when or what you might need it for_, he had told her.

"Good thinking, idiot," Sakura said kindly.

Sakura brought one of the seals to Naruto's shoulder and hesitated. Kakashi had done this too him once, under completely different circumstance true, but she had never had to place any restraints on the blond before. _Don't be silly_, she told herself. She wasn't sealing _him_, just the demon chakra in order to help him. But still - still – his body could start to shut down without the demon chakra sustaining it. She would have to be quick and accurate in stabilizing his breathing once she placed this seal or he would die.

She had to admit to herself that she was scared. Terrified even. Naruto could die if she placed this on him and she wasn't skilled enough to save him. His entire future would then be gone. His chance to be Hokage and any possibility at all of them being together would vanish. He would never surprise her by meeting her on her lunch breaks anymore. Never sit around with her and laze away the boring days. His smile would never brighten up her bad moods again. He would never make her laugh again and make her feel like she was worthwhile, just for being her.

Suddenly, a life without her blond idiot seemed bleary and dull. All her earlier worries about responsibility seemed feeble against the thought of being alone the rest of her life. Naruto was her constant companion. The one person in her life that she could always depend on. She realized she wanted, no _need_, him in her life.

Sakura looked down at her shaking hand holding the seal just above Naruto's still form.

_These hands give life to people,_ she heard his voice in her mind._  
><em>

Naruto had said that to her – to _her_. He had complete faith in her abilities. He always had, even when she doubted herself, he never did. He believed in her after everything and now he desperately needed those abilities. Naruto _believed_ in her. _Believed_. In. _Her_. And damn it all, if she wasn't determined to deliver.

That realization bloomed a new kind of strength and determination in Sakura she had never experienced before. _What is this feeling?_ She wondered in awe staring down at her hand. She felt like she could accomplish anything he believed she could do.

"Bear with this for a little while Naruto," her voice was steady as she spoke.

* * *

><p>Kakashi saw Neji attack the invisible Sound-nin from the corner of his eye while simultaneously dodging a kunai. The weapon uselessly hit the tree beside him. <em>Well, here we go finally. I guess it's time to get serious<em>.

The silver-haired jonin reached up and straightened the Konoha Hitai-ate to reveal the black pinwheels in the red iris of his left eye. Kakashi gathered his chakra and sprang towards his opponent in a blur. Showing great agility, he sidestepped a defensive kick, and launched a kick of his own. The chakra-enhanced kick caught the Sound-nin in the middle and sent him flying backward to tumble into another enemy shinobi.

"Neji, when this is over I'm going to kiss you!" Sakura's voice rang out from behind the silver-haired jonin.

Neji, who had been moving to rejoin Kakashi, stumbled in his sprint. The Hyuuga recovered with the next step, but it was the single most ungraceful move he had ever witnessed from the agile boy and Kakashi couldn't help but laugh.

"Che," Neji scoffed looking a bit flustered.

The Hyuuga didn't say anymore and Kakashi forced down another laugh at the kid's embarrassed look. The next time Neji joined in on the _old man_ joke at his expense, he was _so_ going to remember this moment.

* * *

><p>"Sakura!" someone called, as the pink-haired kunoichi was about to place the seal against the jinchuriki's shoulder.<p>

Sakura looked up in time to see Ino land besides her. The platinum blonde kicked up dirt as she skidded to a halt. She looked out of breath, but immediately knelt down on the other side of Naruto. She could see Ino's practiced eye scanning the jinchuriki's condition even as she spoke.

"Shikamaru sent me ahead to see if you needed help. Hinata said Naruto's chakra was messed up, or something, and it had her worried. The others are heading off another patrol trying to pin you guys in," Ino reported a bit breathless.

Sakura merely nodded at Ino's explanation. Just like Shikamaru to cover all the bases at once. Any annoyance she might have felt with Ino over the last couple of weeks vanished. The platinum blonde's battle medic skills were welcome right now, it would make what she was about to do that much faster, and that meant they could evacuate that much quicker.

"She's right. The Kyuubi's chakra is keeping him alive, but it's blocking me, I'm going to seal it off completely."

Ino's eyes went wide at that.

"Won't that kill him?" asked the platinum blonde.

Sakura shook her head at her friend.

"Not if we work fast enough. I know what I'm doing. As soon as I place this seal work on the bruising to his lungs, I'll take care of the rest."

Ino nodded her head in agreement. Sakura sounded so confident at the moment she had no doubt her friend knew what she was doing. This was her area of expertise after all. The platinum blonde brought her hands to hover above the jinchuriki's chest in preparation.

Sakura took another deep breath and this time, without hesitation, placed the seal against bare skin.

The reaction was immediate. The tingling wrongness, which she had ignored in her haste, melted away. Ino's hands immediately started to glow as a look of concentration washed over her face.

Naruto started gasping for real now, his injured lungs struggling to function. In his unconscious struggle to breath, Sakura saw blood trickle from the corner of the jinchuriki's mouth. The pink-haired kunoichi had the urge to wrap her arms around the blond to try to ease him through the suffering, but she had a job to do first.

Green light enfolded Sakura's hands and she brought them to Naruto's side.

* * *

><p>Kakashi glanced back at Sakura real quick. Sakura and Ino wore matching looks of concentration. He wasn't sure where Ino had come from, but with the two of them, he knew they shouldn't take long to stabilize the jinchuriki. Then they could deal with these Sound-nin, that sprung up like rats, properly. He would have to thank Shikamaru later.<p>

Yamato, Neji, and he were keeping the Sound-nin at bay even with limiting their ninjutsu, while Sai was helping to cause mayhem with his long-range attacks. The Hyuuga was especially useful in this situation as he could fight in a confined space and that Gentle Fist jutsu of his rendered opponents immobile with only a few well-placed hits.

The Hyuuga prodigy was doing that just now. Sai sent out a flock of his small birds into a group of Sound-nin and when the birds exploded the shinobi were caught off guard in the confusion. Neji made use of the opening. He jumped right into the middle of the group and, with hands glowing faintly blue, started to strike out at anything that moved. The combined attack effectively took down the group in seconds. The silver-haired jonin was going to have to remember how well Sai and Neji's skills complemented each other.

Neji struck down the last opponent and came to a halt in his dance like taijutsu. Off to his left, and out of sight for normal vision, a Sound-nin stepped around a tree and launched an attack at the Hyuuga's back. A large fireball formed mid-air and was sent his direction. The Hyuuga wasted no in performing the Hakkeshō Kaiten.

The intense fire hit the rotating chakra and seared the ground and trees around Neji, but couldn't penetrate the shield.

Kakashi looked over to Yamato and the younger man nodded. That fire user was going to have to go down first before he started using large-scale fire jutsu.

The Wood user went through a set of hand seals.

"Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu," he called then sunk down into the ground and disappeared.

Neji attempted to move closer to Kakashi to secure their defense, but something with a lot of chakra came soaring his way. He dodged on instinct and took up the Hyuuga stance when he came to a halt. The human shaped puppet mocked him dangling there with its soulless eyes.

_We'll see how that puppeteer likes it when I slice through that doll's chakra strings_. The doll would drop like a dead weight once that happened and unfortunately for the puppet's master, he could see the chakra strings easily with the Byakugan.

Kakashi leapt and spun around the trees as it seemed _every_ Sound-nin present threw kunai, senbon, hell even smaller ninjutsu, everything they had at him. As he flipped through the air an uneasy feeling started to seep into the jonin. Nothing was large scaled, but damn it all if the constant attack didn't keep him constantly moving and something didn't sit right about the situation.

_Hurry the hell up Tenzo!_ The silver-haired jonin mentally yelled.

Neji focused chakra into his palms and prepared to cut the doll's strings - and then take out the puppeteer. The Hyuuga prodigy was forced to dodge a series of small, erratic fireballs though, before he could slice the glowing strings. _That annoying fire user! _The Hakkeshō Kaiten used a lot of chakra and he had a feeling he was going to need those reserves before this was over, so he physically dodged the fire instead of wasting the chakra. There was no pattern to the fireballs, however, and the unpredictability made it hard to dodge, if not for the Byakugan and his agility.

Kakashi, also on the receiving end of that erratic fire, dodged for all he was worth. Itachi had given him plenty of practice at dodging this particular jutsu though, so he knew he would be all right. The unease in the pit of his stomach grew as Neji and he were forced farther from Sai and Sakura.

Finally, _finally_ he saw Yamato start to slowly rise out of the ground behind that fire using shinobi.

While he was dodging the fireballs, Neji could see him and Kakashi being driven apart and, he clenched his jaw in frustration, could only watch as the puppet found a new target.

* * *

><p>"Got it! Great job Ino, Sai," Sakura finally looked up at her teammate, "let's go!"<p>

Sai looked down at the pink-haired kunoichi and nodded. Ino sighed in exhaustion and slumped tiredly back on her heels.

Sai brought his brush to the parchment, but was forced to abandon the move.

Light flashed off the sharp side of a blade as a puppet came flying down at Sai. The pale shinobi dodge purposely to the left trying to lead it away from Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi and Ino gasped in surprise, both had been focusing on their healing jutsu and largely blocking out the fight, trusting the others to keep them safe.

Sai finally drew on the paper in quick, precise strokes and made a one-handed seal.

"Ninpo: Chōjū Giga," he muttered.

Twins snakes, made of ink, shot out of the paper and wrapped around the doll, trapping it in place.

* * *

><p>Yamato rose up from the ground right behind the fire using Sound-nin.<p>

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" the unaware Sound-nin yelled.

Another volley of sporadic fireballs went flying at Kakashi and Neji.

_Time to end this_, Yamato thought. The Wood user, as stealthily as he could, brought a kunai up to the side of the shinobi's neck. He thrust the weapon inwards suddenly, intending to plunge it right into the side of the Sound-nin's throat.

Yamato's eyes went wide is surprise when the shinobi was jerked upwards out of his grasp before the blade connected. His eyes followed his target up, but he couldn't see anything suspending the enemy shinobi.

"Fūton: Daitoppa," an unfamiliar voice shouted and in that moment, Yamato _knew_ he had walked right into a set up.

A condensed gale force wind shot from the mouth of a nearby shinobi. There was no time to erect a wooden barrier before it hit. The wood user felt his feet leave the ground as the jutsu slammed into him.

* * *

><p>Kakashi, still dodging the fire attack, saw Yamato hurled through the air by a shinobi who, up until now, had not used any ninjutsu. <em>God dammit<em>, he mentally yelled. They had been overly cautious trying to protect Sakura and Naruto and had walked right into this trap by doing so.

Sai prepared to make his next move against the enemy puppet. He would constrict the snakes and break the doll to bits, then carry Naruto and the girls away from here - when all of the tension in the doll suddenly went slack. The thing fell lifelessly in his constricting snakes and for the first time that night, the pale shinobi's eyes went wide at the unexpected move. _What in the world?_

Sai might not be able to see what was going on, but Neji's eyes sure could. Driven away from the group by the joint attack of Sound-nin, Neji watched in horror as the trap sprung around them and he was powerless to do anything from this distance.

The rain of fireballs ended just as he watched Yamato thrown through the air into a tree like a rag doll.

The bright chakra puppet strings snapped from the doll Sai currently held in place, leaving it a useless hunk of wood and steel. The strings didn't retract back to the puppeteer, though, and instead coiled around a new target like living vines, unseen by everyone else except Neji.

"No!" the Hyuuga prodigy yelled without even realizing it.

* * *

><p>Sakura, whose attention was on the doll Sai had trapped, looked down in shock as the unmoving figure below her stirred. The pink-haired kunoichi and Ino both jumped in surprise when Naruto, who should still be unconscious even after the first aid, sat up suddenly. The jinchuriki's head was bowed forward and his blonde hair was obscuring his eyes. The almost unnatural pose sent a cold chill up Sakura's spine.<p>

"N… Naruto?" she stuttered.

The blond didn't answer her. The kunoichi reached out a tentative hand toward the jinchuriki.

"Back away!" Sakura heard Neji yell.

She had never heard the Hyuuga sound so frantic before. The open fear in his usually stoic voice drew Ino's attention to Neji as well. The pink-haired kunoichi looked up to see Neji ram his hand into the side of a Sound-nin's neck. The Hyuuga wasn't normally so clumsy with his Gentle Fist strikes and the feeling that something was _really_ _wrong_ washed over Sakura like a tidal wave.

The kunoichi turned just in time to see Naruto, head still bowed unnaturally, reach out with both hands to grab her and Ino by the neck.

**TBC…**

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><p><strong>Thank you for all the lovely reviews for the last chapter! Your comments really are an inspiration and fuel for my muses, I tell you. So… feel free to use the review button <em>below<em> for comments, ideas, or questions!**


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